Lighting Designer

This production presents the world premiere of a ballet based on City Lights, the classic comedy film created--directed, written, produced, and performed--by Charles Chaplin, the beloved "King of Comedy" who produced countless masterpieces in the early days of cinema.

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City Lights /New Commissioned Work by the NBJ World Premiere | New National Theatre, Tokyo

New National Theatre

«Free she was born, free she will die»: To preserve her freedom, Carmen even accepts her own death. With her uncompromising will to autonomy, she shattered the moral conventions of her time. This sets her apart from the many passive, self-sacrificing female characters of 19th-century opera – once a scandalous figure, later a figure of identification, always a large screen onto which audiences project their own feelings. Director Ole Anders Tandberg takes up these ambivalences and works with iconic images: the bright red flamenco dress, the torero costume and the bullring. But these symbols are not left uncommented upon; instead, they are exaggerated to the point of the grotesque and the macabre. An emotional rollercoaster ride with catchy tunes like the Habanera and the Toreador Song that will linger long in memory. Argentinian conductor Alejo Pérez, General Music Director of Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, makes his debut at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Gaëlle Arquez brings charm and sophistication to the French Carmen, and later our new ensemble member Kristina Stanek introduces herself as the new Berlin Carmen.

Carmen

Deutsche Oper Berlin

“Love is a rebellious bird,” sings Carmen in Georges Bizet’s opera of the same name. In 1992, the Swedish dance legend Mats Ek made Carmen the title character of a ballet for the Cullberg Ballet. He closely follows the novella by Prosper Mérimée on which the opera is based, in which Don José recounts Carmen’s story from his death cell. Playing with classical gender roles, Mats Ek avoids common Carmen clichés and arrives at a profoundly human interpretation. The Australian choreographer Dani Rowe, who now directs the Oregon Ballet Theatre, presents “Vestige,” set to the music of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” in Maurice Ravel’s orchestral arrangement. In episodic visions, people, impressions, and experiences pass before the main character, “Human,” allowing her to draw new strength from her memories.

Rebel Birds

Opernhaus Zürich

Join us for a classic ballet tale of passion, jealousy and adventure. Le Corsaire is a full-length ballet in which the Royal Swedish Ballet delivers large ensemble numbers and intimate duets between the pirate Conrad and his beloved Medora.

Le Corsaire

Royal Swedish Opera

And if we were to name the places at which Mozart in person premiered an opera of his and which still function as theatres, the one and only candidate in the world would be the Estates Theatre in Prague. The National Theatre Opera has proudly cherished this unique tradition for decades.

Don Giovanni

The Estates Theatre

A thriller-like opera set in a time of political unrest and war. At the center are the opera singer Floria Tosca, her lover, the artist and freedom fighter Mario Cavaradossi, and the cruel, all-powerful police chief Scarpia. A triangle drama created for Stubø's minimalist and deeply personal direction.

On the intimate stage of the Folkoperan, Tosca becomes a gripping, intimate study of passion, abuse of power, rebellion and terror. A deadly drama with the opera singer Tosca and Puccini's incomparably beautiful music at its center.

Tosca

The Folk Opera

One day. Three ways to die. Director Eirik Stubø takes on one of opera literature's most multifaceted portraits of women and with perhaps the most beautiful music of all - Puccini's Tosca.

Norrlandsoperan

Three men have finally found their place on Earth. Here they will stay. With each other. But what happens when doubts creep in? Actors Lennart Jähkel, Andreas Kundler and Hampus Hallberg Take on a huge loom and an even bigger loom in a new performance by Alexander Mørk-Eidem. World premiere January 29 at Klarascenen, Kulturhuset City Theatre.

Men who weave

Kulturhuset Stadsteatern

Verdi’s celebrated dramatic masterpiece is a triumph of opera, brimming with some of its greatest musical highlights.

Rigoletto has everything one could wish for in Italian opera: a gripping storyline and unforgettable melodies that stay with you long after the curtain falls—including the famous tenor aria La donna è mobile.

Rigoletto

Royal Danish Opera

Harold Pinter's classic play returns to the theater with Johan Rheborg, Sven Ahlström, and Henrik Norlén in the roles. In a run-down house, two brothers offer a homeless man a job as a caretaker—but soon power games, suspicion, and family conflicts come to light. Directed by Emma Bay.

Fastighetsskötaren

Mozart's opera favorite with music you recognize or quickly become seduced by. Join the search for love and freedom with Tamino and Pamina, Papageno and Papagena and, of course, the Queen of the Night. The Magic Flute, directed by Ole Anders Tandberg, is an imaginative and fast-paced performance that features the greatest hits in opera history – and everyone sings in Swedish!

The Magic Flute

Kungliga Operan

Georges Bizet’s titular heroine is as captivating a character as any in the history of opera. The different interpretations of Carmen are legion: we have the seductress, the personification of forbidden yearning, the standard bearer for the “eternally female” in the brutal battle of the sexes, the anarchist unfettered by bourgeois angst and compulsions, the archaic clairvoyante seeing her own death in the cards - yet free, as she does not dread her destiny. Few opera heroines are so open to interpretation and hence so able to serve as a mirror held up to society.

«L'amour est un oiseau rebelle», sings Carmen in Georges Bizet’s opera of the same name. Mats Ek, the Swedish dance legend, made Carmen the heroine of a ballet at the Cullberg Ballet in 1992. He based it closely on the novella by Prosper Mérimée, which also forms the basis for the opera, in which Don José tells the story of Carmen from his death cell. Playing with classic gender roles, Mats Ek avoids common Carmen clichés and finds a deeply human interpretation. Another strong female figure is at the center of Dani Rowe’s choreography. After a career as a dancer with the Australian Ballet and the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Australian-born choreographer now heads the Oregon Ballet Theater. She is creating her first choreography for the Ballett Zürich, set to the music of Mussorgsky’s «Bilder einer Ausstellung», in the orchestral version by Maurice Ravel.

Zurich Opera House

In 1897, three scientists set out to fly over the North Pole in a gas balloon. They never returned. Then, a discovery. Their fate, shrouded in mystery for decades, is revealed through a found camera and rolls of film that were buried in the ice for 33 years. This theatrical exploration blends dance, music, film, and projection to tell a poetic and impressionistic distortion of the true story. A loving tribute to photography and its capacity to expose the power, beauty, and fragility of the environment, this show is a metaphoric comedy about memory, destiny, legacy, and hubris in the face of nature’s force.

White Box

Emmett Robinson Theatre at College of Charleston

In Mozart’s masterful comedy of intrigue – a tale of love, infidelity and forgiveness – the artistic trio Anne Barslev, Rikke Juellund and Astrid Lynge Ottosen turn their focus to women’s struggle, across social ranks, for autonomy over their own bodies within a system where the Count seeks to revive his feudal right to the estate’s young brides on their wedding night.

Lighting Designer

Ellen Ruge

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 28 - Nov 27, 2026

Don Giovanni · Národní divadlo

Oct 4, 2026 - Mar 12, 2027

Carmen · Deutsche Oper Berlin

May 7 - Jun 6, 2027

The Marriage of Figaro · Det Kongelige Teater

Past events

Oct 23 - Nov 1, 2026

City Lights /New Commissioned Work by the NBJ World Premiere | New National Theatre, Tokyo · Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

Oct 4, 2026 - Mar 12, 2027

Carmen · Deutsche Oper Berlin

About

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