A wedding is one of the most beautiful and most magnificent occasions concocted by mankind. In a traditional culture it is a rite of passage that celebrates the recasting of the woman’s role within the family. Involved are worries about setting up a new household, the sorrow of taking leave of parents and friends, the angst about having a new family and new responsibilities. These situations have been described and dealt with in innumerable folk songs. Inspired by the folk songs and choral music of her Serbian homeland, the Serbian Canadian composer Ana Sokolović wrote in 2011 an opera for six women’s voices that has to do with the preparations for a wedding. The bride – Milica – spends time with her friends and together they dance, play, tell jokes, argue, grow weary, then dance again. What Milica goes through is a kind of universal transformative experience and this opera is a snapshot of this elemental life circumstance. From everyday objects and everyday chatter, the composer conjures up true theater magic. Without orchestral accompaniment – only with a few percussion instruments which the singers themselves play – by virtue of six women’s voices Sokolović weaves a breathtaking tapestry, which sometimes consists of word and sound snippets, sometimes lapses into absurd rhymes, but then also comes up with some catchy agreeable melodies.

Wedding

Werkstattbühne

The main characters in Verdi’s reputed »accursed« opera are caught in a whirl of war and destruction. Don Alvaro in the process of eloping with Leonora is discovered by her father and Alvaro accidentally kills him. Before dying the father puts a curse on Leonora. Leonora’s brother Don Carlo resolves to pursue the two lovers and exact vengeance for his father’s murder. The characters over and over again try to evade their past, but it’s no use: the inexorable “forza del destino” (the power of fate) catches up with them.

The Power of Destiny (La forza del destino)

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

The most famous composer in his country – that didn't count for much in England around 1900. But one with world renown, one whom Richard Strauss cheered on and called “master”: Edward Elgar had something to be proud of. He appeared on the world stage with a double blow, namely with his Enigma Variations in 1899, and then, just in time for the turn of the century, with his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius . Incidentally, it was after its German premiere in Düsseldorf in 1902 that the composer of Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegel made the aforementioned toast! A new oratorio in the land of choirs, in the land that had witnessed the birth of Handel's Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elias : this caused a sensation, and although the premiere turned into a disaster in Elgar's eyes due to lack of preparation, the work was enthusiastically celebrated by the audience and critics from the very beginning! The work is not to be found in our records of the last 20 years – all the more reason to play it in our Good Friday concert. Thomas Guggeis, one of the absolute shooting stars of the international scene, requested it for his debut with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn. Guggeis is the newly appointed head conductor at the Frankfurt Opera, and that at the youthful age of just 30. Guggeis had a sensational breakthrough in 2018 when he stood in for Christoph von Dohnányi in the dress rehearsal of Richard Strauss's Salome at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden. We look forward to performing Elgar's magnificent oratorio with him, the Karthäuserkantorei and the Philharmonic Choir!

Transmigration of Souls

On his futile search for the meaning of life, the ageing scholar Faust makes a pact with the Devil. Méphistophélès buys his soul and promises him eternal youth and love. Faust falls in love with Marguerite, however she soon leaves him. After she has killed their child, Marguerite succumbs to madness, but emerges morally superior from the encounter with Faust.

Dshamilja Kaiser

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 8 - Jul 30, 2026

Faust · Bayerische Staatsoper

Past events

Jun 21 - Jul 9, 2025

Wedding · Theater Bonn

19 - 26 Apr, 2025

The Power of Destiny (La forza del destino) · Theater Bonn

Future and recently performed repertoire

Gertrud in Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

Theater Bonn

Preziosilla / Curra in La forza del destino by Verdi

Theater Bonn

Marthe Schwerdtlein in Faust by Gounod

Bayerische Staatsoper

Singer in The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar

Beethoven Orchester Bonn

About

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