Name: Manon Lescaut
Start: 2026-12-26T13:00:00
Location: Opernhaus Zürich

Sonya Yoncheva

Lauri Vasar

Joshua Guerrero

Salvador Villanueva

Daniel Norman

Marcela Rahal

Francesco Ivan Ciampa

Shavleg Armasi

Samuel Wallace

Theodore McAlindon

Rufus Didwiszus

Klaus Bruns

Franck Evin

Barrie Kosky

Fabio Dietsche

Opernhaus Zürich

In William Shakespeare's drama "Romeo and Juliet," the power of love allows two young people to transcend their limitations. The lovers of Verona have conquered the ballet stage thanks to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. He masterfully captured the clash of love and hate, and the juxtaposition of tenderness and violence, in his vibrant, passionate score. Cathy Marston brings the world's most famous love story to the stage with the Zurich Ballet as a world of contrasts, where everything can change in an instant: around the next corner awaits the love of your life, or perhaps death itself.

Romeo and Juliet

"The Magic Flute" is one of the most enigmatic masterpieces in the history of opera. Mozart's last opera transports the listener to a world of magic, trials, and mysterious symbols, telling a story of the search for inner strength, maturity, and the overcoming of fears. Between light and shadow, a universal interplay of human experiences unfolds – carried by Mozart's profound music and its compelling appeal to humanity. The new production is directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca from Ticino, whose poetic stage language uniquely blends theater, acrobatics, and circus. 

The Magic Flute

William Shakespeare tells a story of love and transformation in his comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream." He interweaves the paths and detours of Eros in several plot lines, inevitably leading to mix-ups, misunderstandings, and hilarious scenes. Ballet director Cathy Marston and designer Richard Hudson stage their "Midsummer Night's Dream" in a dilapidated, abandoned fairground. Providing a counterpoint to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's famous incidental music is Gabriel Prokofiev's "Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra No. 1." Robert Houssart conducts the Zurich Opera Orchestra and receives expert support from the popular British DJ Mr. Switch.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Bernhard-Theater

To be someone else for one night? Rosalinde, who would much rather have been an artist, isn't the only one who dreams of this. Together with the recently imprisoned Gabriel von Eisenstein, the servant Adele, and the vengeful Dr. Falke, she embarks on a journey to Prince Orlofsky's infamous party, a world where anything goes. Camilla Nylund sings Rosalinde in Anna Bernreitner's production, with costumes by fashion designer Arthur Arbesser.

The bat

The extensive concert program presents itself with dazzling diversity and a variety of formats. The Zurich Opera Orchestra, in full force, will perform in seven Philharmonic Concerts, alternating between the Opera House and the Tonhalle. Internationally renowned soloists and guest conductors will dedicate themselves to major works from Beethoven to Strauss, as well as fascinating discoveries from the concert repertoire. A special highlight is the Prokofiev Cycle, created in collaboration with the Tonhalle Orchestra.

3rd Chamber Concert

Gabetta & Noseda

A bottle labeled "Drink me!" that shrinks you, a cake that makes you grow immeasurably after you eat it, a Mad Hatter who celebrates his unbirthday 364 days a year – these and many other curious adventures await Alice after she follows a rabbit and falls down a hole. Is it all really just a dream? Lewis Carroll's classic children's book has captivated generations of theater and filmmakers, including the Italian composer Pierangelo Valtinoni. His poetic music, as well as Nadja Loschky's imaginative and fast-paced direction, thrilled audiences at the Zurich premiere.

Alice in Wonderland

The extensive concert program presents itself with dazzling diversity and a variety of formats. The Zurich Opera Orchestra, in full force, will perform in seven Philharmonic Concerts, alternating between the Opera House and the Tonhalle. Internationally renowned soloists and guest conductors will dedicate themselves to major works from Beethoven to Strauss, as well as fascinating discoveries from the concert repertoire. 

Lieder recital by Lise Davidsen

Elektra relentlessly invokes the past, her trauma, her burning desire for revenge: Her father Agamemnon, barely back from the Trojan War, is dead, murdered in his bath by her mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Richard Strauss wrote music of piercing power, profound and relentless, which offers no redemption to any of the characters until Elektra's ecstatic final dance. Following her visually stunning production of "Der Rosenkavalier" at the Zurich Opera House, director Lydia Steier now turns her attention to Strauss's dark counterpart. On the podium is the Lausanne-born conductor and designated Zurich General Music Director Lorenzo Viotti. In the demanding title role, Finnish soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä makes her Zurich debut.

Elektra

With "Das Rheingold," Richard Wagner opens his monumental "Ring of the Nibelung": a mythological world theater about power, love, and the loss of innocence. Whoever renounces love gains power. This fateful law draws both Alberich and the god Wotan into the spell of the cursed ring. From the famous depths of E-flat major, a world unfolds between idyllic nature and moral decay. Andreas Homoki's successful production returns under the musical direction of Gianandrea Noseda. Michael Volle sings Wotan.

Das Rheingold

4th Chamber Concert

With "Manon Lescaut," Giacomo Puccini established a series of tragic female figures in whom passionate devotion and existential despair are intertwined. In four large, cinematically edited scenes, he depicts the stages of the title character's life: her intoxicating love for the student Des Grieux, a life in luxurious Parisian society, and finally, exile and death in an American desert. Director Barrie Kosky underscores the fleeting nature of this life by presenting the narrative as a continuous, feverish journey: Death is already on the coachman's seat at Manon and Des Grieux's first encounter. Following her acclaimed Tosca, soprano Sonya Yoncheva returns to the Zurich Opera House as Manon.