This opera, which Puccini himself considered his favorite and best work, moves everyone who hears it. In the summer of 1900, Puccini saw David Belasco’s theater piece »Madame Butterfly« in a London Theater, and was indelibly touched. It was a tragic story of very human proportions, coupled with an old-fashioned dose of Far East exoticism. As Belasco did, Puccini set his opera in the present, in the year 1904, the year of its world premiere. The strict rules and customs of Japanese society are confronted by the western world, in the form of the American marine lieutenant Pinkerton. For him, his fictitious marriage with the young geisha Cio-Cio San, also called »Butterfly«, is nothing more than an exotic romantic adventure. For her, though, it is the chance of a lifetime: Fascinated by the notion of the different, freer world that her lover could give her, she’s ready to break with everything she’s ever known. She believes steadfastly that Pinkerton will return to her, even long after he has left Japan. And when he finally does return, after three years, it spells disaster.

Madama Butterfly

Oper Leipzig

There's a lot going on in the schoolyard. A storm is brewing. Otto is being bullied by girls, attacked and struck by a yellow lightning bolt. Hannah, Natan and Aziza rush to help their friend. But things get stranger and stranger: a pancake stand appears out of nowhere, a hat too, and then there's the hitchhiker who can make time freeze. What does all this have to do with that parallel world, the floating land, where the super villains are up to no good? The world seems to have gone off the rails. Luckily, the four friends suddenly have superpowers: Hannah's superpower is melody, she can fly high when she sings high. Natan's superpower is harmony and he can multiply. Aziza is incredibly dynamic and fast as lightning. And Otto has the best sense of rhythm and a special connection to explosions. It's high time for superheroes! Only together can they tell good from evil and save the blue pig. The blue pig? Wait...Where did that come from?

The Blue Sow

Theater Duisburg

With the premiere of "The Csárdás Princess," Emmerich Kálmán established himself as one of the operetta world's greats. With hits like "You Can't Do Without Women," "That's Love," "The Girls, the Girls," and "Let's Do It Like the Swallows," he won over the hearts of audiences, transporting them into the glamorous world of the theater with the story of the dazzling chansonnière Sylva Varescu.

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The Csárdás Princess

In Schwebeland (Hoverland) good fights evil and in the world, a storm is on the rampage. Hanna, Natan, Aziza and Otto are on their way home when remarkable things occur to them and around them. A pancake stand crops up out of nowhere, a shack. When the storm dies down and Otto is being teased by malicious girls, the other three come to his rescue. But what is going on? Why do they all of a sudden have superpowers? The hitchhiker from the parallel world clears up the matter and asks for their help. The four of them must all by themselves find out who in this other world is truly good and who is evil. And what does it all have to do with a blue sow?

Theater Bonn Opera House

At Hansel and Gretel’s home there is rarely anything nourishing to eat: The family can simply not afford good food. One day the children see in their kitchen a jug full of milk and jump for joy at the idea of their getting rice pudding. Their mother comes and tells them off and unintentionally knocks over the milk jug. In a fit, as punishment, she impulsively sends the children off into the woods to gather strawberries. It occurs to her too late that a wicked witch is lurking there who likes to turn little children into gingerbread…

Hansel and Gretel

Carmen is the personification of the ill-fated woman. Mirko Mahr uses the sensual language of dance to retell Carmen’s pure provocation against society as a timeless myth to an adolescent audience.

Sven Bindseil

Events

Past events

Mar 20 - Apr 5, 2026

Madama Butterfly · Oper Leipzig

Mar 12 - May 6, 2026

The Blue Sow · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

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