Name: Killing Carmen
Start: 2025-10-01T20:00:00
Location: Volksoper Wien

Katia Ledoux

Stefan Cerny

Anton Zetterholm

Gabriel Cazes

Julia Edtmeier

Florian Carove

Jörg Mikula

Bernhard Moshammer

Hans Wagner

Rina Kaçinari

Dominik Fuss

Martin Lukesch

Anne Buffetrille

Paul Grilj

Nils Strunk

Magdalena Hoisbauer

Lara Regula

Volksoper Wien

The story of The Magic Flute begins like an adventure: a prince rescues a princess from a dark ruler, accompanied by a birdcatcher and magical devices. But the boundaries between good and evil, light and dark become blurred and the characters are far more complex.

The story of The Magic Flute has been interpreted and reinterpreted in many ways. But one of the reasons it continues to captivate audiences to this day is that it features complex characters, who are portrayed as diverse and dazzling as real people. A mother, for example, who wants to save her daughter – or perhaps uses her as an instrument of revenge. A young woman who discovers a strength within herself she didn’t know she had. A coward who might actually be braver than he believes. A villain who, on second glance, no longer appears (only) evil.

The Magic Flute

Operetta has always been an escape from everyday life into a dream world. But what if what is happening in the world is so terrible that it can no longer be forgotten? In the first months of 1938, current political life intrudes into the Volksoper during rehearsals for the operetta Gruß und Kuss aus der Wachau. What do intolerance, discrimination and fascism do to the staff of the Volksoper?

In the course of rehearsals, the seizure of power by the National Socialists brings about serious changes for the Volksoper: dismissals follow at all levels of the house. A captivating look into the mirror of the past can also mean a confrontation with a painful period in the history of the Volksoper. We don't want to avoid that. By telling the story of the Volksoper staff, we preserve the memory of ALL victims. At the same time, we do not lose sight of the actions of the perpetrators, which could happen again at any time, but we also remember the countless people who did not raise their voices.

Let 's forget the world - Volksoper 1938

It is probably the most popular, but certainly the most Viennese of all operettas: Johann Strauss' immortal Fledermaus. Parties that get out of hand, erotic mix-ups, conspiracies, intrigues and a large portion of schadenfreude: the climax of the classical Viennese operetta era offers ambiguous entertainment in waltz rhythm. And if the social façade crumbles too much, you can still blame everything on the effect of champagne. 

The Volksoper is considered the most Viennese opera house in the city. So it is not surprising that Johann Strauss' masterpiece is practically family silver here. No work has ever been performed more often at the Volksoper. At the beginning of Lotte de Beer's directorship, the performance was carefully refreshed, and a female "Frosch" has since provided a fresh look at a well-known piece.

The Bat

Ruth Brauer-Kvam: “No one shaped pre-war operetta like Fritzi Massary. She fought her way up to the Olympus of operetta like no other. She was the celebrated star of the Metropol Theater in Berlin. There she met the famous actor Max Pallenberg, a master of his art. Two people couldn't be more different, and that's why their love for each other was so great. These birds of paradise flew high and fell low. We want to tell her story filled with music, Jewish humor, feathers and sequins. Drama meets operetta, Palfrader meets Brauer. A tribute to the artists who inspire us!”

A little bit trallalala

Johann Strauss worked on a ballet based on the well-known fairy tale of Cinderella at the end of his life. Only a fragment of the piece survived. Axel Ranisch and Martina Eisenreich have created their own work inspired by this: In Vienna, 1899, Strauss is working on his ballet, but who is the mysterious librettist? And what does Ida Grünwald have to do with the project, when she is supposed to be merely typing the libretto? The story behind the creation of the Johann Strauss ballet, its storyline, and an unusual Cinderella narrative set in our present day – this fairy tale opera blends timelines and explores themes of self-discovery, emancipation, creativity, and the power of imagination.

Vienna, 1899: Johann Strauss is working on a new ballet. A competition is held to find a suitable libretto, but only one truly sparks the composer’s imagination...

The Cinderella Ballet: The talented seamstress Grete works in her stepmother’s fashion salon. Grete dreams of designing her own clothing, but her stepsisters, Yvette and Fanchon, mock her relentlessly. When the painter Leon enters the salon, everything changes.

Cinderella's Dream

“She is a statue of beauty when standing or sitting: grace itself when she moves,” the 18th century English writer and artist Horace Walpole wrote about the legendary Queen of France Marie Antoinette. This colourful character from French history inspired the ballet by the French choreographer Thierry Malandain that premiered with his own ensemble, Malandain Ballet Biarritz, in 2019 in the very theatre that Marie Antoinette inaugurated on 16 May 1770 to mark her wedding to Louis XVI: the Opéra Royal Château de Versailles.

Marie Antoinette’s life in Versailles is central to Malandain’s ballet, which the choreographer has created to music by two of her contemporaries – Joseph Haydn and Christoph Willibald Gluck. The piece depicts her arrival at court, her wedding day, the opening of the opera house with Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Persée – as a ballet within the ballet – the attempted escape that would ultimately be her undoing and the infamous parties and balls associated with the Queen.

Marie Antoinette

Clifford Bradshaw, a young American writer, has come to Berlin to get inspiration for his new novel. In the legendary Kit Kat Club he meets the most exciting creature of Berlin nightlife: the singer Sally Bowles. They fall in love, but both have too little to live for ... Fräulein Schneider and the Jewish fruit merchant Herr Schultz also try to protect their love from the looming Nazi regime. Faced with an uncertain future, all those involved have no choice but to live in the moment: "So come to the Cabaret!” 

Cabaret

Things are heating up in the Faninal household! The nouveau riche is eagerly awaiting the wedding of his daughter Sophie - it is to be a noble groom. However, it is not the intended candidate, the Baron Ochs, who will win Sophie's heart, but the bearer of the silver engagement rose: the young Count Octavian. Before his secret lover, the Feldmarschallin, releases Octavian for the union, Baron Ochs is publicly disgraced in a suburban pub ...

The Rosenkavalier

Spring Awakening is a powerful rock musical about growing up, generational conflict, and the turmoil of awakening sexuality. Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and a Grammy, it redefined Broadway’s themes. Based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play Frühlings Erwachen, it criticizes social morality while exploring sexuality and repression. Wendla, Melchior, and Moritz face strict parents and teachers as well as unanswered questions about love and desire, with devastating results.

Spring Awakening

The famous dancer Rudolf Nureyev has a dog. When Nureyev dies, the strict ballet mistress Marika inherits the dog. The dog growls at her and becomes aggressive. When Marika is unable to place the dog with one of Nureyev’s friends, the animal shelter seems to be the only solution. Until Marika realises that the dog has hidden qualities …

The author Elke Heidenreich wrote a novel about Nureyev’s dog. Director and choreographer Florian Hurler actually knew Nureyev’s dog and the ballet mistress Marika. Peter te Nuyl wrote a theatrical script and text based on their stories. Keren Kagarlitsky created a new score from ballet-, opera- and her own music.

Nurejews Hund

With this new production of the operetta classic The White Horse Inn, director Jan Philipp Gloger sets out in search of the contemporary aspects of the piece, which he recognizes above all in the theme of tourism. Come with us to the region of the Salzkammergut and take a look behind the façade of the traditional eponymous hotel!

In the White Horse Inn

Figaro, the Count’s servant, has become engaged to Susanna, the Countess’s maid. The Count is stalking Susanna. Figaro hatches a plan to put the count in his place. After a “mad day” of disguises, misunderstandings and other comical complications, Figaro gets his Susanna and the Count has no choice but to apologize to the Countess.

The Marriage of Figaro

“I was already warned that I would have to fear for my life,” Carmen declares—foreseeing her own doom—in the finale of Bizet’s “opera of all operas” (as Nietzsche once called it). A few minutes later, she is dead, stabbed by the man who was still her lover only moments before, the soldier Don José. The team behind Killing Carmen—Nils Strunk, Lukas Schrenk, and Gabriel Cazes—asked themselves from which perspective this opera, after its many adaptations (including pop-cultural ones) throughout the 20th century, could be retold once again. These three exceptional artists, who for years have devoted themselves to daring and high-energy reinterpretations of the classics, continue the opera’s story: What happened after Carmen’s murder? What void did she leave behind?