Director

After Siegfried and Brünnhilde have happily found each other, the hero sets out on "new deeds". Brünnhilde, who remains behind, receives the Ring of the Nibelung as a token of love from her lover. But Hagen, a descendant of the Gibichung family, also wants to get his hands on the cursed ring that his father Alberich once forged. Siegfried's naivety plays into his hands: he cunningly gives Siegfried a potion that makes him forget everything, causing him to lose all his memories of Brünnhilde. In this state, he cruelly abuses his former wife, who then seeks revenge. Hagen is prepared to murder Siegfried in order to finally get his hands on the ring...

Götterdämmerung

Opernhaus Dortmund

The naive Siegfried grows up as an orphan with the loveless and greedy blacksmith Mime, with only the remains of a sword left by his unknown father. At some point, his curiosity about his own origins and identity becomes too great, and after fearlessly and naively reforging his father's wonderfully strong sword, he sets off. Mime had convinced him that he must learn to fear in order to survive in the world - preferably from the dragon worm Fafner, who lives in a forest cave on a valuable treasure, including the powerful, eponymous ring. But with his carefree nature, Siegfried masters the episode effortlessly and wins the treasure. What's more: after he accidentally comes across the dragon's blood, he can suddenly understand the language of animals! This is how he comes to a rock surrounded by fire, where he finds a sleeping woman, Brünnhilde, who can only be awakened by the most fearless and free hero. For the first time, Siegfried feels fear – but it quickly turns into love!

Siegfried

It is about a pair of siblings who have lost each other and then find each other again. It is about incestuous love, adultery and affairs. It is about power and intrigue. But it is also about love, trust and the search for happiness. And it is about a ring that represents the future of the world. Richard Wagner's Die Walküre begins as a simple love triangle in which two people fall in love and a third suffers. But as the opera progresses, the deeper dimension of this entanglement becomes apparent and the perspective broadens beyond the purely human. It is nothing less than a part of the global epic The Ring of the Nibelung , which Richard Wagner created with Die Walküre .

Die Walküre

Accompanied by a slowly swelling E-flat major chord, in the prelude to Das Rheingold a mythical cosmos rises from the depths of the Rhine, from whose waves a world populated by gods, giants and dwarves arises: Cursing love, the Nibelung Alberich procures the legendary gold of the Rhine maidens in order to forge a ring from it that gives its owner limitless power. When Wotan and Loge cunningly steal the valuable piece from him, Alberich places a curse on the ring, the fateful consequences of which ignite the further events of Der Ring des Nibelungen ...

Das Rheingold

»The Nose« is the stroke of genius of the just 22-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich based on the novel of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. While Gogol's novella is a satire on tsarist officials, the opera, which premiered in 1930, brings to the stage an entire society in which an opportunistic official falls into the clutches of bureaucracy, a nose becomes a media sensation, and the police closely monitor its citizens. With dance music, balaleika sounds, Russian church music and the first pure percussion piece in music history, »The Nose« is no less grotesque than the strange occurrences it tells: the nose of college assessor Kovalev suddenly disappeared for no reason.

The Nose

Semper Zwei

Gaul has been entirely conquered by the Romans. The Gauls would have revolted against their occupiers long ago if it weren’t for the priestess Norma, who, evoking Irminsul, the god of war, continually demands that the uprising be postponed. In fact, Norma wishes to prevent war because she is the secret lover of the Roman proconsul Pollione, to whom she has borne two children. But Pollione’s imminent recall forces action, and when Norma discovers that the Roman has long since fallen in love with the young Druid priestess Adalgisa, she declares war against Rome. Then she reveals her own treachery to the Gauls. But what is Norma’s plan? – First performed in Milan in 1831, »Norma« is the most famous opera by Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. In his Dresden production, stage director Peter Konwitschny exposes the political core of this story of a woman who shakes the very foundations of her state.

Norma

Semperoper Dresden

Elsa of Brabant is suspected of having killed her younger brother Gottfried in the forest. When King Henry the Fowler asks Elsa to defend herself, she pleads for an imaginary knight to come to her aid. Suddenly, Lohengrin, the Knight of the Swan, appears. He promises to fight for Elsa, but makes her promise beforehand never to question him about his identity or provenance.

Director

Peter Konwitschny

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 22 - Apr 11, 2026

Lohengrin · Staatsoper Hamburg

Past events

May 18 - Jun 8, 2025

Götterdämmerung · Theater Dortmund

Apr 6 - May 31, 2025

Siegfried · Theater Dortmund

About

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