Actor

Singer

Verdi’s celebrated dramatic masterpiece is a triumph of opera, brimming with some of its greatest musical highlights.

Rigoletto has everything one could wish for in Italian opera: a gripping storyline and unforgettable melodies that stay with you long after the curtain falls—including the famous tenor aria La donna è mobile.

Rigoletto

Royal Danish Opera

As the template for his opera, Die Englische Katze (1983), Hans Werner Henze turned to a story by Honoré de Balzac from the early 1840s, illustrated by the famous caricaturist, Grandville. The libretto for Die Englische Katze was delivered by the English author Edward Bond, with whom Henze had already collaborated successfully with his previous opera, We Come to the River. If this was a passionate plea against the war, at first glance this animal parable, Die Englische Katze, appears to be apolitical, indeed, even harmless or amusing. The story about the ageing tomcat, Lord Puff, president of a vegetarian-nourishing “Royal Society for the Protection of Rats” and his young wife Minette, who falls in love with another, daring and exciting tomcat, Tom, ends tragically however, and serves as a wicked satire. Minette is drowned by the other cats, Tom is stabbed in the back, just after he has inherited a large sum of money. The insensitive, hypocritical cat society that only looks out for its own benefit gets off scot free.

EPSG:4326

Die Englische Katze

Munich Residence

The two closely related powerful women, whose graves now lie right beside each other in London’s Westminster Abbey, were “Of One Blood”, so of the same blood. Both were of course as conceivably far apart as possible during their lives. Elizabeth I ruled for almost half a century as Queen of England and Ireland, while Mary Stuart reigned over Scotland for a quarter of a century. A bitter power struggle between the Protestant hegemony and the Catholic opposition and ultimately the pressure of parliament forced the English Queen to have Mary Stuart executed.

Actor, Singer

Seonwoo Lee

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 16 - Mar 11, 2026

Rigoletto · Royal Danish Opera

May 10 - Jun 29, 2026

Of One Blood · Bayerische Staatsoper

Past events

Jan 16 - Mar 11, 2026

Rigoletto · Royal Danish Opera

Nov 5, 2025 - Jan 30, 2026

Die Englische Katze · Bayerische Staatsoper

Future and recently performed repertoire

Gilda in Rigoletto by Verdi

Royal Danish Opera

Female Courtier I in Of One Blood by Dean

Bayerische Staatsoper

Minette in The English Cat by Henze

Bayerische Staatsoper

About

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