Conductor

A colorful gingerbread house in the middle of the forest, in which two hungry children seek refuge. But there lives an evil witch with gruesome baking recipes. Engelbert Humperdinck's most famous opera is full of contrasts, both on stage and in the music. It combines traditional children's songs with Wagnerian orchestral sound, creating a magical soundscape that captivates both young and adult audiences alike. The fairy-tale opera, in which the siblings successfully overcome danger together, returns to the stage in the 2005 production by Jürgen Rose. It is conducted by the new Cologne General Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

Hansel and Gretel

Cologne Opera

Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci are two classic Italian operas, rich in passion, drama, and musical brilliance.

Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci – Two Italian Opera Classics

Royal Danish Opera

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.

Carmen

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Information stands of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatsballett Berlin and Tanz ist KLASSE! - Here we will answer all your questions about the opening festival programme. Of course you can also acquire free tickets for the evening opening concert at our box office or buy your tickets for your next opera, ballet or concert evenings.

Grand Opening of the Season 24/25

After a day full of opera, backstage experiences, children's programmes, stage shows and more, arias and ensembles from premieres and revivals will be performed. You can look forward to our orchestra, the chorus, and many soloists who will get you in the mood for an exciting and musical season 24/25.

Season Opening Concert 24/25

According to his servant Leporello, Don Giovanni has already loved no fewer than 2,064 women; the number of those he has left with broken hearts cannot be any less. This masterpiece about the charming yet unscrupulous lothario Don Giovanni became (in the words of Richard Wagner) the „opera of all operas“, thanks to the inspired collaboration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The work, which premiered in Prague in 1787, is more than just a tale of love and seduction, lust and immorality, rape, murder and revenge. Expressly called a „funny drama“ by Mozart, the narrative alternates between tragedy and comedy, between tales of sex-and-crime and theatrum mundi. Don Giovanni, with his passion for breaking rules and taboos, does not shy away from challenging the Dead and even Fate itself. In his staging for Dresden, Andreas Kriegenburg highlights the contemporary relevance of the characters’ endless greed for life, love and beauty.

Don Giovanni

Semperoper Dresden

No other work reflects Puccini's search for new forms of musical theatre like his three-act trilogy IL TRITTICO, which premiered in 1918. In three pieces with different colours and temperatures, he once again brought to the stage what Italian opera could be in those years. In a condensed version, the second and third parts of the triptych now return to the stage of the Deutsche Oper in Karabulut's colourful production: SUOR ANGELICA, a piece with an all-female cast, is unique in opera history and revolves around questions of life and death and the possibilities in between. In her feminist interpretation, Karabulut explores the possibilities of (female) self-determination within a closed system. GIANNI SCHICCHI, on the other hand, follows the tradition of commedia dell'arte, placing humans at the centre as players and greedy deceivers. With her keen sense of timing and a captivating ensemble, Karabulut reveals the bizarre depths of a hypocritical family gathering once again around the deathbed of their patriarch.

Suor Angelica / Gianni Schicchi

Thanks to Mozart, the horn acquired its first letters of nobility at a time when it was considered only as an instrument for hunting and the outdoors. Both noble and joyful, enriched by a slow movement imbued with great tenderness, the Second Concerto (1783) highlights the new head of the OPRL horn section, Margaux Ortman. A mature work, Mozart's Symphony No. 39 (1788) is inspired by the theater, and is similar to Don Giovanni in its incessant quest for colors, the presence of deep and meditative passages, and this ability to shape melodies like true lines of song. Sublime!

Conductor

Giulio Cilona

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 21 - Mar 20, 2026

Don Giovanni · Semperoper Dresden

5 - 17 Apr, 2026

Suor Angelica / Gianni Schicchi · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Apr 25, 2026

Mozart, Symphony No. 39 · Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Apr 26, 2026

Mozart, Symphony No. 39 · Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Past events

Nov 30 - Dec 30, 2025

Hansel and Gretel · Oper Köln

Oct 12, 2025

Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci – Two Italian Opera Classics · Royal Danish Opera

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Candide by Bernstein

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Symphony No. 39 by Mozart

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Conductor in Gianni Schicchi by Puccini

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Macbeth by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Oper Köln

Conductor in Horn Concerto No. 2 by Mozart

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Conductor in Suor Angelica by Puccini

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Weill

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Carmen by Bizet

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Don Carlos by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Don Giovanni by Mozart

Semperoper Dresden

Conductor in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Conductor in Coriolanus Overture by Beethoven

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

About

Giulio Cilona hasn't added a bio