Overtures, arias and duets from popular operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and others, as well as from Viennese operettas by Oscar Straus (1870-1954), Franz Lehár (1870-1948) and other composers of the so-called Silver Operetta Era.

Gala against cancer

Bremen Market Square

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?

The Blue Sow

Theater Bonn Opera House

“Vespertine” is a term used in biology to describe something ‘evening’, such as a flower that only blooms in the evening or an animal that becomes active at sunset. With her revolutionary VESPERTINE, BJÖRK created the most mysterious, erotic, introverted album of her career in 2001. In this sense, it is the opposite of an opera. But the variety of soundscapes created electronically and acoustically, the sensuality and immediacy of the voice that speaks to us, whispers, implores us, comforts us, confesses - open up a supernatural, epic dimension. This is how the story that makes this album transferable to the stage came about: a biology researcher and her doppelganger are the protagonists of this version of VERSPERTINE. Their laboratory in a snowy Nordic landscape is the shell of experience, memory, longing and listening. Here they deal with the question of the origin of life and become mothers themselves. A magical, mesmerizing spectacle about the human and celestial universe, the earth and nature is created on stage, while Björks music, arranged for an opera orchestra and voices, resounds from the stage in its fullness. The participation of the renowned Kölner Ensemble Musikfabrik makes this pop opera a special musical experience.

EPSG:4326

Evening

Schauspielhaus Bad Godesberg

How does one recognize a good song? Who decides on what basis it is to be judged?  Do you go by the opinion of the old masters, who insist that their own rules be followed to the letter, or by what you feel deep down in your heart, maybe a feeling of passionate love that you believe to contain some immediate truth? Is there perhaps a golden mean?

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg

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!

Carl Rumstadt

Events

Past events

Apr 17, 2026

Gala against cancer · Bremer Philharmoniker

May 17 - Jul 8, 2025

The Blue Sow · Theater Bonn

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar

Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Fritz Kothner in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg by Wagner

Theater Bonn

About

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