Name: Semele
Start: 2025-04-27T16:00:00
Location: Theater Lübeck

Theater Lübeck is poised to offer a vibrant tapestry of performances, blending classic musical narratives with contemporary themes. From the romantic entanglements in 'The Merry Widow' to the introspective journey of 'The Passenger', and the divine love of 'Semele', audiences are set to embark on a variety of emotional and cultural explorations. With orchestral and choral compositions enhancing the theatrical experience, each event promises a unique artistic journey, making Theater Lübeck a beacon for cultural enrichment in the upcoming season.

The Lübeck Theater Season: A Symphony of Narratives and Harmonies

Theater Lübeck presents an eclectic array of performances, spanning genres from orchestral to chamber music, and exploring themes from love and desire to historical reflection. With events such as 'The Merry Widow,' 'The Passenger,' and 'Semele,' alongside a New Year's Concert and the unique 'Music4all,' this season promises to enthrall audiences with its rich tapestry of narratives and sounds. Join us as we delve into these captivating performances, each offering a unique experience that transcends traditional boundaries and celebrates artistic diversity.

A Year of Diverse Musical Journeys: Theater Lübeck's Extravaganza

Theater Lübeck invites you on a captivating musical journey through an eclectic lineup of performances. With a rich blend of genres ranging from timeless musicals like 'The Merry Widow' to compelling new compositions like 'The Passenger', this season promises to appeal to diverse audiences. Acclaimed artists and conductors breathe life into these stories, infusing each performance with charm and depth. Discover themes of love, desire, and moral dilemmas as Theater Lübeck delves into the human experience through the power of music and storytelling.

Exploring Theater Lübeck's Diverse Musical Journey

Theater Lübeck is set to host a captivating array of events that promise to resonate deeply with audiences. From the charming escapades of 'The Merry Widow' to the poignant narrative of 'The Passenger,' each performance offers a unique artistic experience. With a blend of classic and contemporary works, including musical interpretations such as 'Semele' and 'Tristan and Isolde,' the theater invites you to delve into stories that explore love, desire, and the human condition. Join us as we dive into the details of these exceptional performances and the artists who bring them to life.

A Grand Theatrical Journey: Exploring Theater Lübeck's Upcoming Events

Theater Lübeck is set to enchant audiences with a diverse lineup of performances going into 2025. From the romantic entanglements of 'The Merry Widow' and the mythological allure of 'Semele', to the timeless love story of 'Tristan and Isolde', each offering promises to captivate. With dramatic operas like 'Lucia of Lammermoor' and the whimsical comedy of 'Bidla Buh', the season is rich with variety. Not to be overlooked are the orchestral and chamber concerts, showcasing the brilliance of Mozart and Brahms, along with a special treat for young audiences aboard 'The Trans-Siberian Ghost Train'.

Theater Lübeck Unveils a Captivating Season: From Classic Musicals to Innovative Symphonies

Andrea Stadel

Sophie Naubert

Takahiro Nagasaki

Frederick Jones

Delia Bacher

Laila  Salome Fischer

Florian Götz

Ashley Martin-Davis

Jens Ponath

Lynne Hockney

Jan-Michael Krüger

Falk Hampel

Stephen Lawless

Theater Lübeck

Giselle falls in love with Duke Albrecht, unaware of his noble origins. When his identity is revealed by the gamekeeper Hilarion, Giselle loses her mind and dies. She now finds herself in the circle of the Wilis, ghosts of brides who died before their weddings. At night, they force young men to dance with them until they die of exhaustion. As a Wili, Giselle could take revenge on Hilarion and Albrecht – but love will prove to be the stronger force.

Giselle

While "Don Giovanni" is being performed in the opera house, the real show takes place in the wine cellar next door – here, the poet Hoffmann entertains his customers with his fantastic tales in which people turn out to be machines, singing can be fatal, and mysterious figures seek to rob him of his reflection. The hidden core of every story: his relationship with the singer Stella, who is also on stage as Donna Anna in the opera. The longer the evening goes on, the crazier the stories become, until Hoffmann finally threatens to lose touch with reality...

Hoffmann's Tales Les contes d'Hoffmann

In his play "Birthday Candles," American playwright Noah Haidle spins a thread of life on which birthdays (some more, some less solemnly celebrated) are strung like pearls on a necklace. 100 years of life – 100 birthday cakes that Ernestine bakes each year according to her mother's recipe as she searches for her place in the universe. At 18, Ernestine is convinced she'll find that place on a theater stage, far away from her tranquil hometown, but as the saying goes, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Ernestine starts a family with her childhood sweetheart, experiences highs and lows, and ultimately finds herself reflected in the questions, wishes, and dreams of those who come after her.

Birthday Candles

He is one of the greats of American rock music: an Oscar and Tony Award winner, a 20-time Grammy winner – and more than 60 million albums sold make him one of the most successful musicians of all time. His songs, sometimes melancholically dark, sometimes powerfully earthy, have won a huge fan base around the world. Autobiographical elements are repeatedly reflected in the songs: his difficult relationship with his father, his working-class background, but also social themes such as rural exodus in the USA or everyday racism in the provinces. His childhood and youth experiences – growing up in a small town in New Jersey, in a home shaped by a choleric father who failed to build an emotional relationship with his children – flow into his songs. With a mixture of anger, a longing for escape and freedom, but also with wistful nostalgia, he describes his roots and simultaneously expresses what concerns the "little man" on the street. In "My Hometown," for example, he sings about the decline of his hometown, empty shops, violence, and unemployment. He tells of failed lives, lost dreams, and defiant rebellion. His songs deal with life and death, friendship, family, idealism, the American Dream, and homelessness—and they reflect the psychological state of a nation.

My Hometown

Composer John Kander tells a great love story in "Cabaret": Nightclub singer Sally Bowles and writer Clifford Bradshaw meet on New Year's Eve 1929 in Berlin. For a while, the newly in love couple's happiness seems perfect – despite their differing ideas about the future and their precarious circumstances. Sally lives for the day and sings at the famous "Kit Kat Klub" at night. Jealous Cliff can't deal with this. He is working on his second novel, but is in the midst of a creative crisis. Moreover, the mood of the "Golden Twenties" is increasingly changing, even in the liberal metropolis of Berlin. Fascism and anti-Semitism are poisoning society. Even the apolitical landlady, Fräulein Schneider, can no longer close her eyes to the rise of National Socialism.

Cabaret

In his drama fragment "Woyzeck," shortly before his untimely death in 1837, Georg Büchner became one of the first playwrights to turn his attention unsparingly to social reality. Inspired by a real court case, he depicts a simple man trying to lead a normal life against all odds—living in poverty, subjected to questionable medical experiments, and humiliated from all sides, he increasingly loses his mind. The play wasn't staged until 1913.

Wozzeck

Güllen is bankrupt. No tax revenue and empty coffers, even though the country's economy is booming: Güllen is to be seized! The long-awaited rescue is approaching in the person of Claire Zachanassian, née Klara Wäscher, who was impregnated and abandoned by Alfred Ill at a young age, lost the paternity suit due to false witness statements, disgraced and driven from the city in poverty, lost her child, forced into prostitution, married and inherited from a wealthy oil baron, and is now a billionaire! Now it's time: With the hope of welcoming a generous benefactor in the former Güllen resident, Claire Zachanassian is being treated to a big welcome. And indeed, she is willing to donate a billion to the city, but under one condition – Alfred Ill must die! Naturally, this caused great outrage among all Güllen residents, who immediately and consistently rejected the immoral offer in the name of humanity. But strangely, little by little, an increased propensity to consume is evident throughout the city, loans are being granted generously, a new town hall is being built, and even the church is buying new bells. And Alfred Ill feels that the people of Güllen are behaving increasingly strangely toward him...

The Visit of the Old Lady

Dresden-born conductor Romely Pfund was one of the first women in Germany to be appointed General Music Director of the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic in 1987. To mark her 50th stage anniversary, she will conduct a celebratory concert at her most recent permanent venue, the Lübeck Theater, where she served as tuition director and conductor until last season. The program includes three of her favorite pieces, one of which is by one of her mentors, Leonard Bernstein.

Romely Pfund gala concert

Lübeck is the city of the Hanseatic League and Nobel Prize winners. But what about women? We need the whole of history to know where we come from and where we want to go. Therefore, we will go to the city and invite you to an open exchange of perspectives with a searching, choral text about women, which will be read, enriched, rewritten, and transferred into the future in surprisingly different ways by various Lübeck collectives. They will all become part of the "Choir of Unknown Heroes."

Choir of Unknown Heroes

6.  Chamber Concert

Salón Coliseo

One evening, he suddenly appears—a mysterious old man with a head full of music. He claims to be a knight—but there's something different about him...

4.  Children's concert Ritter Gluck

On May 15, 2026, the Lübeck Philharmonic Society / Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lübeck Theater invite you to a musical family day.

Musical Family Day Come in!

She is a woman whose excessive desires lead to her own extinction: The Theban princess Semele is to marry Prince Athamas at her father's request, but falls in love with the god Jupiter, who appears to her in human form. On her wedding day, Semele therefore willingly allows herself to be abducted into his realm. The love-struck Jupiter swears to his new lover that he will grant her every wish. His jealous wife Juno uses this promise for a devious intrigue: In the guise of Semele's sister Ino, she convinces Semele that she can achieve immortality if she sees Jupiter in his true, divine form. In this way, she tells Semele that she wants Jupiter, without revealing to her that the sight of a god is unbearable for a human being. Semele will burn in the face of the real Jupiter.

Semele

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