Opernhaus Zürich is set to captivate audiences with a rich tapestry of operatic masterpieces during its 2024-2025 season. Featuring celebrated works from Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, and others, this season promises to be a feast for the senses. Highlights include Camilla Nylund's return as Senta in 'Der fliegende Holländer', the emotionally charged 'Un ballo in Maschera', and the timeless tragedy of 'Madama Butterfly'. With world-class performers and the exceptional musical direction of Gianandrea Noseda, Opernhaus Zürich is poised to deliver unforgettable experiences that resonate deeply with opera lovers.

A Melodic Tapestry: Opernhaus Zürich's Enchanting 2024-2025 Opera Season

Prepare for an enchanting journey at the Opernhaus Zürich, where timeless operatic masterpieces come to life, featuring the extraordinary talents of Camilla Nylund, Tomasz Konieczny, and Brenda Rae. With productions ranging from Wagner's legendary 'Der fliegende Holländer' to Verdi's poignant 'Rigoletto,' this season promises to captivate audiences with its stellar performances and rich storytelling. These carefully curated operas, steeped in cultural and historical significance, will be led by some of the finest conductors and performers, ensuring an unforgettable experience for all who attend.

Operatic Odyssey: A Journey Through Zurich's Masterpieces

Opernhaus Zürich is set to captivate audiences with a trio of operatic masterpieces: Richard Wagner's 'Lohengrin', Giuseppe Verdi's 'Rigoletto', and Jacques Offenbach's 'Les Contes d’Hoffmann'. This lineup showcases a blend of romantic, melodramatic, and fantastical elements, brought to life by talented performers like Piotr Beczała and Brenda Rae. These performances promise audiences an immersive experience of powerful storytelling, intricate compositions, and profound emotional depth. Prepare to be transported into worlds of intrigue, passion, and drama through these iconic operas.

An Operatic Journey at Opernhaus Zürich: Lohengrin, Rigoletto, and Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Opernhaus Zürich is set to host an operatic feast featuring timeless classics and contemporary pieces. From Wagner's 'Lohengrin' to Offenbach's 'Les Contes d’Hoffmann', the lineup promises to captivate audiences with stellar performances by renowned artists. This season's offerings include compelling narratives, enchanting musical scores, and a celebration of cultural richness, making it a must-visit for opera enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

Operatic Extravaganza at Opernhaus Zürich: A Journey Through Classic and Contemporary Masterpieces

This summer, Zürich is set to become a vibrant epicenter of opera and music, with Opernhaus Zürich hosting a series of captivating events. From the fantastical 'Les Contes d’Hoffmann' to the enriching 'L'Orfeo', and innovative youth projects like '#Entscheide dich!', there's something for everyone. Additionally, gala concerts highlighting renowned talents and a delightful open-air event promise to engage and entertain diverse audiences. As these events unfold, the city will witness a blend of classic and contemporary, traditional and innovative performances.

Opera and Music Extravaganza: A Month at Opernhaus Zürich

Christopher Willoughby

Katrina Galka

Marina Viotti

Lauren Fagan

Daniel Norman

Andrew Foster-Williams

Saimir Pirgu

Adriana Gonzalez

Steffan Lloyd Owen

Stanislav Vorobyov

Judith Schmid

Nathan Haller

Lobel Barun

Valeriy Murga

Samson Setu

Maximilian Lawrie

Maria Stella Maurizi

Wolfgang Gussmann

Andreas Homoki

Beate Breidenbach

Franck Evin

Opernhaus Zürich

Philharmonia Zürich

Chor der Oper Zürich

Statistenverein am Opernhaus Zürich

«L'amour est un oiseau rebelle», sings Carmen in Georges Bizet’s opera of the same name. Mats Ek, the Swedish dance legend, made Carmen the heroine of a ballet at the Cullberg Ballet in 1992. He based it closely on the novella by Prosper Mérimée, which also forms the basis for the opera, in which Don José tells the story of Carmen from his death cell. Playing with classic gender roles, Mats Ek avoids common Carmen clichés and finds a deeply human interpretation. Another strong female figure is at the center of Dani Rowe’s choreography. After a career as a dancer with the Australian Ballet and the Nederlands Dans Theater, the Australian-born choreographer now heads the Oregon Ballet Theater. She is creating her first choreography for the Ballett Zürich, set to the music of Mussorgsky’s «Bilder einer Ausstellung», in the orchestral version by Maurice Ravel.

Rebel Birds

Zurich Opera House

War, flight, hatred and revenge characterize the grand portrait that Giuseppe Verdi created in «La forza del destino». Amid this unpredictable interplay of forces, Leonora and Alvaro search for each other, fight for their love, experience persecution, find refuge in faith, and are crushed by inexorable fate. Director Valentina Carrascothe Catalan, who was a member of the Catalan theater collective La Fura dels Baus, uses Verdi’s monumental scenes as an opportunity to question the values of war and peace in the 21st century, creating a dystopian fantasy. Anna Netrebko returns to Zurich as Leonora. General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda is on the podium.

The strength of destiny

The composer Engelbert Humperdinck based his work on the most famous of all fairy tales. The operatic version of the story of the siblings Hänsel and Gretel, who lose their way in the forest and nearly fall victim to the Knusperhexe, or witch, has always inspired audiences. The music takes well-known folk melodies and combines them with large, shimmering soundscapes that move between dream and reality, and between fears and fantasies. Zurich-born director Thom Luz has received numerous awards for his theater work. With «Hansel and Gretel», he makes his long-awaited opera debut, and unleashes the poetic power of theatrical magic. Lithuanian conductor Giedrė Šlekytė musically directs.

Hansel and Gretel

Chamber music concerts are an important part of the program. In various formations and ensembles, the musicians of the Orchester der Oper Zürich explore a wide repertoire. At close quarters and in intimate spaces, audiences experience the intensity of the musicians as they make music.

5th Chamber Concert

Hall of Mirrors

Be someone else for a night? It’s not just frustrated Rosalinde and her employee Adele, who would much rather have been an artist, who dream of it. Together with Gabriel von Eisenstein, who has just been sentenced to prison, and Dr. Falke, who is bent on revenge, they go to Prince Orlofsky's crazy ball. Here, of all places, all the masks drop. Austrian director Anna Bernreitner stages this most Viennese of all operettas in costumes by renowned fashion designer Arthur Arbesser. It’s an evening with champagne moods, missed opportunities, and the lightness inherent in darkness, musically directed by the Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti.

The Bat

Clara Schumann was very likely the most important pianist of her time. Her life – as a daughter, artist, wife, mother, carer, manager, and muse – was full of ups and downs, and she devoted it entirely to music. In a world dominated by men, she displayed a degree of independence and self-determination that was astonishing for a woman of her time.

Cathy Marston follows the path of this exceptional artist, and focuses on Clara and her divorced parents, her relationship with Robert Schumann, and her connection with Johannes Brahms in her ballet, which premiered in 2024. She tells of devotion and passion, inspiration and responsibility.

Clara

2nd La Scintilla Concert

The court of the Duke of Mantua is host to lavish parties. But in this society, having fun means humiliating and degrading others, and the most cynical joker of all is Rigoletto. He wants to protect his daughter Gilda from the corrupt world, so he locks her away. But the young woman goes her own way. Together with «Il trovatore» and «La traviata», «Rigoletto» cemented Verdi’s international fame as an opera composer. The opera is gripping theater in which all roles are ideally cast: from the king to the avenger, from the lover to the murderer.

Rigoletto

The «Japanese tragedy» by Giacomo Puccini shows how the American naval officer Pinkerton embraces Japanese culture, marrying Cio-Cio-San, a young geisha, for the duration of his stay. When he later returns with his «real» wife to take the child he had with Cio-Cio-San back to his homeland, the young woman is left with only one way out. With his ambitious composition, Puccini combined Eastern and Western motifs, producing one of his most successful operas at the start of the 20th century. Director Ted Huffman brings the opera to the stage in stunningly beautiful images and with great narrative tension.

Madama Butterfly

Chamber music concerts are an important part of the program. In various formations and ensembles, the musicians of the Orchester der Oper Zürich explore a wide repertoire. At close quarters and in intimate spaces, audiences experience the intensity of the musicians as they make music. Each of the nine chamber music programs in the Spiegelsaal has its own individual focus: classics of the genre meet rarely heard works, and early music meets crossover.

6th Chamber Concert

The Orchester der Oper Zürich starts the concert season under a new, old name. After thirteen years as Philharmonia Zurich, the orchestra will return to its original moniker. The Philharmonic Concerts will once again alternate between the Opernhaus and the Tonhalle Zürich.

Altstaedt & Chan

This four-part ballet evening brings together two legendary dance pieces and two world premieres.

The Ballett Zürich has a long-standing relationship with the American choreographer William Forsythe. His «New Suite» from 2012, set to music by Bach, Händel, and Berio, combines eight technically demanding duets from different creative periods, forming a showcase of his work «en miniature». Hans van Manen made dance history in 1979 with his video ballet «Live». Created in the pioneering days of video technology, this piece for two dancers, a pianist, and a cameraman explodes the boundaries of the stage space, revealing itself to be a masterful puzzle game about the mechanisms of perception.

Timeframed

Opéra-fantastique in five acts by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)
Libretto by Jules Paul Barbier after the drame fantastique of the same name
by Barbier and Michel Florentin Carré

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

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