"Let's dance!" is the motto for the last symphony concert, which goes beyond the usual concert framework: instead of in the Kurhaus, the State Theater building will be used - on all stages, in the foyers and in all nooks and crannies that can offer surprises.

8th Symphony Concert

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

When Verdi is on the programme, it can be wonderfully grand and theatrical. That is why his "Messa da Requiem" is being performed as part of the International May Festival in the dimensions it deserves: with two choirs, the in-house choir of the Hessian State Theatre and the choir of the city of Wiesbaden.

7th Symphony Concert

A sophisticated story and timelessly good music are the best prerequisites for a successful comedy. With "The Marriage of Figaro", Mozart opened his trio of legendary master operas, all of which the composer wrote based on librettos by the Italian Lorenzo Da Ponte. The piece presents an everlasting love story, a playful and biting social satire - and yet all these descriptions fall short. Because "Figaro" is above all: a work of upheaval, a piece of stormy pressure for personal recognition and thus at the same time a timeless symbol of the individual's rebellion against the establishment.

The Marriage of Figaro

"Carmen" is still one of the most popular operas today. At the premiere in 1875, audiences were initially more shocked than enthusiastic, because Bizet elevated the underprivileged - the fatally seductive Carmen and the deserting soldier Don José - to the main characters of his story. Nevertheless, the opera began its great triumph. Even more than one hundred and forty years later, the work fascinates audiences all over the world with its world of smugglers, bullfighters, factory workers, policemen, children and soldiers. In addition to ensemble member Fleuranne Brockway as Carmen, Stefano La Colla, one of the most important tenors on the international opera scene, is a guest in Wiesbaden and is making his debut as Don José. The revival is being conducted by General Music Director Leo McFall.

Carmen: Georges Bizet

Other times shimmer through the works in this program. In a wide variety of forms, the compositions seek to engage with heritage and tradition, to deal creatively with past styles and eras. Both Gustav Mahler’s 4th Symphony from 1901 and Thomas Adès’ Couperin Studies from 2006 allow new sound worlds to grow out of old. Adès built a framework around three harpsichord movements by the Baroque composer Couperin, which adds new effects to the basic structure and lets the orchestra dance with the fragments of the original. Mahler’s Fourth says goodbye to the romantic pathos of the past 19th century. On the one hand, it seems almost classical, but on the other hand it looks to the future: to Mahler’s late works, which are breaking into the modern era. Here, cheerful idyll lies close to the abyss. Everything is geared towards the finale with a poem from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”, whose delicate lines are made for the soprano Alyona Rostovskaya from the opera ensemble of the Wiesbaden State Theater.

4th Symphony Concert

Restless, uprooted, searching for a void that no one can fill: Richard Wagner's powerful music invites us to analytically question the driven characters of his opera. In the new production, director Martin G. Berger focuses on the mysterious past of Senta, her father Daland and the Dutchman. Using retrospection and memory, the production delves deep into the story. Layer by layer, it reveals the patriarchal structures that overshadow the relationship between father and daughter and from which the grown-up Senta, now her own redeemer, tries to fight her way out. Alexandre Corazzola's stage design shows the surface of an idyllic family home and is transformed into a psychological space with the videos by Vincent Stefan.

Leo McFall

Events

Past events

Jul 5, 2025

8th Symphony Concert · Staatstheater Wiesbaden

May 14, 2025

7th Symphony Concert · Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Symphony No. 4 by Mahler

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninoff

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in Carmen by Bizet

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in The Three-Cornered Hat by Falla

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in Requiem by Verdi

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in The Flying Dutchman by Wagner

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in Piano Concerto in G Major by Ravel

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

Conductor in Three Studies from Couperin by Adès

Staatstheater Wiesbaden

About

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