Name: The Magic Flute
Start: 2026-07-04T19:00:00
Location: Semperoper Dresden

Experience the vibrant cultural tapestry at Semperoper Dresden, where timeless operas like 'The Magic Flute' and 'Roméo et Juliette', captivating children's workshops, and lively jazz nights create a hub of artistic expression. Discover how Semperoper transforms into a realm of adventure and creativity, offering something for everyone - from opera aficionados to curious young minds.

Inside Semperoper Dresden: A Journey Through Music, Fairy Tales, and Jazz

Dive into the world of opera and ballet at Semperoper Dresden, where captivating performances and enriching children's programs unfold. From the timeless 'The Magic Flute' by Mozart to the deeply moving 'Roméo et Juliette' by Gounod, these productions showcase the incredible talents of performers and creators alike. Meanwhile, Semperoper Aktiv! offers young minds an exciting peek behind the scenes, fostering creativity and curiosity. Join us as we explore these cultural gems and their impact on audiences of all ages.

Behind the Curtains: Opera and Ballet at Semperoper Dresden

Joshua Hopkins

Georg Zeppenfeld

Victoria Randem

Christa Mayer

Jongwoo Hong

Ute Selbig

Mario Lerchenberger

Felix Krieger

Maria Perlt-Gärtner

Stepanka Pucalkova

Walter Vogelweider

Josef E. Köpplinger

Fabio Antoci

Ricarda Regina Ludigkeit

Dagmar Morell

Semperoper Dresden

Every last Saturday of the month,  Semperoper Aktiv! invites  children to the Semperoper for an afternoon! We enter the opera house through the stage door, as only the staff usually do, and explore the many facets of the house in a playful way: Whether it's a workshop on a current production, a movement or sound workshop, or a look behind the scenes—there's something for everyone!

Meeting point: Stage entrance : Fantastic children's room

Meeting point: Stage entrance :Fairytale stories

Meeting point: Stage entrance :Fairytale characters

Meeting point: Stage entrance : A look behind the scenes with a puzzle rally

Tchaikovsky and Petipa's fairytale ballet, considered the pinnacle of classical dance, in a version by Aaron S. Watkin and Marcelo Gomes: music and dance in their purest form!

Sleeping Beauty

According to his servant Leporello, Don Giovanni has already loved no fewer than 2,064 women; the number of those he has left with broken hearts cannot be any less. This masterpiece about the charming yet unscrupulous lothario Don Giovanni became (in the words of Richard Wagner) the „opera of all operas“, thanks to the inspired collaboration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The work, which premiered in Prague in 1787, is more than just a tale of love and seduction, lust and immorality, rape, murder and revenge. Expressly called a „funny drama“ by Mozart, the narrative alternates between tragedy and comedy, between tales of sex-and-crime and theatrum mundi. Don Giovanni, with his passion for breaking rules and taboos, does not shy away from challenging the Dead and even Fate itself. In his staging for Dresden, Andreas Kriegenburg highlights the contemporary relevance of the characters’ endless greed for life, love and beauty.

Don Giovanni

Is movement dance or dance movement? Siblings Imre and Marne van Opstal see themselves not only as choreographers in the classical sense but also as movement directors. Their multi-layered and often surreal approach to dance is hugely popular around the world. Collaborating for the first time with the Semperoper Ballett, the creative duo are providing the company with a brand-new work.

Vice Versa

Did Richard Wagner already know when, in The Flying Dutchman, he first explored the notion of redemption, that this would end up being the central concern of his art? In his final opera, Parsifal, which was first performed in Bayreuth in 1882, it is not just a single person but society as a whole that awaits a saviour – buoyed by the hope of one day meeting the One who will fulfil this role. Parsifal’s qualification for this tremendous task is that he has become “knowing through compassion” – a process that takes many years, perhaps an entire lifetime. But there are forces trying to hinder him on his path. Will Parsifal be willing to place himself at the service of the community? Parsifal, which has been called a “stage consecration festival”, is still an overwhelming experience today. Can art truly help us find redemption?

Parsifal

“Insights into the Historical Archives’ rolling-off system” – an exciting, moderated insight into historical images, program booklets, correspondence, press reports, and anecdotes.

 Case number: “Do you know what you saw?”

Archivio centrale di Stato di Dresda

‘The Bald Soprano is a parody of the theatre and thus, of course, a parody of certain human attitudes.

A married couple are sitting cosily in front of the fireplace. We learn that they live near London and are called Smith. Later, they are joined by the Martins, who are surprised to discover that they are husband and wife. The fire chief and the maid Mary also already know each other, and the bald prima donna – she always styles her hair the same way! Eugène Ionesco’s first play The Bald Soprano from 1950 inaugurated the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’. With its assemblage of domestic scenes featuring meaningless banter, situational comedy, pseudo-clichés and non-sequiturs, Ionesco created a witty “anti-play” full of dazzling linguistic acrobatics. In collaboration with the playwright, Italian composer Luciano Chailly (1920-2002) wrote the libretto for the opera of the same name. His score captures the character of the protagonists and their relationships by means of a quintet of plucked instruments – featherlight, vain and dance-like – as well as serene string quintet and a rather coarse wind quintet. Semper Zwei now presents the German premiere of this opera rarity, which was first performed in Vienna in 1986.

The Bald Soprano

Semper Zwei

La traviata –directly translated as »the one who has lost her way«–is, of course, the Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry. Already dying from an incurable lung disease, she falls in love with Alfredo Germont. Yet her feelings are in conflict with her way of life and all sense of reason; ultimately, her quest for freedom and happiness is defeated by the moral strictures of bourgeois society. When first performed in Venice in 1853, this story was considered scandalous: an opera about a courtesan who dies of tuberculosis and is also modelled on a real-life woman in Parisian society was an outrageous inno-vation for the time. Focusing on the complex relationship between Violetta, her lover Alfredo and his father Giorgio, Giuseppe Verdi created a captivating and fully-rounded character, expressed through music that shifts between lyrical bel canto passages and powerful musico-dramatic outbursts. Director Barbora Horáková Joly places »La traviata« in the dazzling world of 19th-century vaudeville.

La traviata

Mozart’s most popular opera is a deeply humane story of adventure with heavenly music.

The Magic Flute

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