Was George Frideric Handel a German composer or an English one? Well, one could also say: He was Italian! For in the four years he spent south of the Alps, he not only met the best musicians of his time, but also dabbled in important genres: opera, oratorio, cantata. One of these works is the cantata "Apollo e Dafne." The subject is piquant. It deals with male aggression. The god Apollo tries to win the nymph Daphne's affection by threatening him with violence. But she is wise and ultimately transforms into a laurel tree. Apollo's only option is to water it with his tears.

2nd Castle Concert

Sondershausen Castle

"Love is blind," is what is usually said. In Peter I. Tchaikovsky's last opera, "Iolanta," it is different: it is only love that makes the title heroine see. The young woman, daughter of the Provençal king René, has always been blind. But she knows nothing about it. In order to supposedly protect her, those around her keep this from her, as well as the fact that she is a princess. It is only a stranger who rescues her from her paradisiacal world of illusion: the Burgundian knight Vaudémont reveals to Iolanta that she is blind, thus initiating her healing process, at the end of which, through the power of love and thanks to her own strong will, she can finally see.

Jolanthe

Theater Nordhausen

Normally, the Marquise de Merteuil gets rid of her lovers. But it was different with the Comte de Gercourt, who ended the liaison. To take revenge on him, the Vicomte de Valmont, who is well-versed in all the arts of seduction, is supposed to take away Gercourt's virgin bride's innocence before the wedding. But Valmont feels called to greater things: he wants to make the modest Madame de Tourvel submissive and makes a bet with the Marquise, with whom he himself once had an affair: if he actually manages to seduce Tourvel, he and the Marquise will spend another night together. But the unscrupulous game of power and intrigue increasingly gets out of hand...

Dangerous Liaisons

Do you like to make travel plans at the beginning of the year? Then let yourself be inspired by traveling composers who have translated their dream destinations, holiday oases and creative breaks into entertaining music. For our trip you don't have to get on the train or the car, you just need to come to our New Year's concert and off you go with Saint-Saëns to Aragon, with Rossini to Reims, with Johann Strauss to St. Petersburg or to the roses in the south. The Loh Orchestra, the baritone Florian Tavic and Julian Gaudiano will be your tour guides and will musically fuel your wanderlust.

New Year's Concert

Adventure Mine

Culture and Congress Center

Achteckhaus

Georges Bizet did not live to see the success of his last opera, "Carmen," as he died just a few months after its premiere, which took place in March 1875 at the Paris Opera-comique. At the time, there was a hail of harsh criticism: the title character, for example, was "obscene" in her unconditional love of freedom, an "incarnation of vice" and should be "banned by the police." The composer and his librettists portrayed the dramatic story of the spirited Spanish woman Carmen and her lover Don José in a drastic realism that was unusual for the time. Carmen, who loves her independence and does not allow herself to be taken over, increasingly frees herself from the possessive clutches of Don José. The latter is drawn into a fatal vortex of jealousy and mistrust.

Carmen

Like no other country, Italy stands for opera as a drama of passions and a place of the highest singing art. It was "invented" in Italy over 500 years ago, and many composers and countless singers have achieved great fame there through it. In this gala we will be bringing the crème de la crème of Italian bel canto to our ears. Among them are Gioacchino Rossini, the master of the comic field and the brilliant coloratura in "The Barber of Seville", as well as Gaetano Donizetti ("Lucia di Lammermoor"). Also not to be missed is Giuseppe Verdi, whose overwhelming emotional music, for example in his "La Traviata", made him world famous. The operas of Giacomo Puccini, the well-known representative of so-called "verismo", are equally immortal. Ruggero Leoncavallo is also congenial with the opera "Pagliacci" ("Pajazzo"). In addition to highlights from the works of these and other composers, there will be samples from the upcoming season, including excerpts from Mozart's opera "Idomeneo".

Italian Opera Gala

The beautiful and at the same time ice-cold Princess Turandot, "the Pure", only wants to marry the prince who can solve her three essentially unsolvable riddles. If he fails, the unsuccessful suitor will be executed. Prince Calàf, irretrievably in love with her, wants to face the tests. Everyone tries to dissuade him from his deadly plan: his blind father Timur, the slave Liů, who herself has fallen in unrequited love for Calàf, and even the three imperial ministers. Nevertheless, he takes the risk and, to Turandot's horror, solves all the riddles. Recognizing her resistance, he poses a riddle of his own, but in the end he reveals the solution, thereby surrendering himself to Turandot once again...

Turandot

Sondershausen Palace

In 1983, "La Cage aux Folles" was the first musical to deal with a homosexual theme. After its premiere on Broadway in New York, it conquered the stages of Europe within a few years. With its turbulent story, its shrill characters and its catchy music, it is still very popular today and remains timelessly relevant with its plea to trust your own feelings and live authentically.

A Cage Full of Fools (La Cage aux Folles)

The lives of Juliet, daughter of the Capulet family, and Romeo, son of the Montagues, would certainly have been different if Juliet had married Count Paris, who was her intended, and Romeo had married his love, Rosalinda. But things turned out differently: when they first met, Romeo and Juliet fell madly in love. But they knew that a romantic relationship was impossible, as their families had been in bitter conflict for a long time. When the secret relationship was discovered, a fateful fight broke out between Romeo and Juliet's cousin Tybalt, which ended in death for the latter and finally destroyed any hope of a happy outcome for the lovers.

Roméo et Juliette

Culture and Convention Center Meininger Hof

Josepha Vogelhuber, landlady of the "White Horse Inn" on the Austrian Wolfgangsee, has the well-being of her guests at heart. Above all, that of her regular guest Dr. Siedler, a distinguished lawyer from Berlin, to whom she has fallen in love. He, however, is interested in the young Ottilie, which in turn pleases Josepha's head waiter Leopold Brandmeyer, because he only has eyes for his boss. In the idyllic Austrian holiday resort, there are a number of emotional turbulences, which an important visitor is able to resolve so skilfully that everyone ends up with a happy ending.

Florian Tavic

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 23 - Dec 14, 2025

2nd Castle Concert · Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

Past events

Nov 23 - Dec 14, 2025

2nd Castle Concert · Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

2 - 30 May, 2025

Jolanthe · Theater Nordhausen

Future and recently performed repertoire

Ping, Chancellor in Turandot by Puccini

Theater Nordhausen

Mercutio, Romeo's friend in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod

Theater Nordhausen

Singer in Agrippina by Handel

Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

Escamillo in Carmen by Bizet

Theater Nordhausen

Singer in Apollo e Dafne by Handel

Loh-Orchester Sondershausen

About

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