Senta's dreams are directed towards the sea: will the man who will free her from her restricted life at home come from there? It begins stormily; Wagner's first fully valid opera presents a grandiose, overwhelming vision of the elements already in the overture. The fate of the Flying Dutchman and the woman who is to redeem him takes place in the roar of the waves and the ocean. This "romantic opera" aims to transcend boundaries - between tradition and future music, between land and sea, between convention and revolution. The result is a thrilling drama telling the story of a young woman who refuses to submit, who puts all her stakes on one card in order to transcend her boundaries, even if it costs her her life.

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Der fliegende Holländer

Staatsoper Hamburg

This opera is the world in a theatrical nutshell: it deals with growing older, with trials and tribulations, with intransparent decisions. One person searches for individuality, another is too lazy to do so. Others postulate that the community is the only adequate place for the individual. Power has either been legitimised by long tradition or usurped by new regimes. Values such as assimilation and loyalty are set against self-assertiveness and independence. There is loving and dreaming, cheating and trusting. Suicides are prevented, tests passed, adventures survived. Who is right? Who has been wronged? The world of the magic flute is opaque, and everyone is looking for a pathway: within it, into it or out of it. Who holds the reigns? Who can be trusted? Could it be music?

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

"It is a simple and tremendous problem of life: that of fidelity", is how Hugo von Hofmannsthal described the core of their third opera together, Ariadne auf Naxos, in a letter to Richard Strauss. To live does not mean to persevere and hold on to what has been lost. If you want to live, you have to let go, forget, get over yourself - constantly transform yourself. This is what a young opera composer experiences in this work when he is confronted with the stubborn wishes of his patron; just like the protagonist of his opera, Ariadne, who, abandoned by her lover, Theseus, expects only death. But things turn out differently... Strauss and Hofmannsthal let the opposites collide: Tragedy and comedy, light music and grand opera, playfulness and seriousness. Thus, in the mirroring of art and life, between gaze and gaze, the unfathomable mystery of transformation takes place.

Ariadne auf Naxos

A coming-of-age story, recurring conflicts with parents, and first love, Manon is a young girl full of hopes, dreams, and an irrepressible desire for life. Manon is to enter a convent and sees her desire for a free, self-determined life fading. However, she falls head over heels in love and flees to Paris, the city of love and opportunity.

Manon

The poet E. T. A. Hoffmann as the protagonist of his own fantastic tales: In his encounter with three women - Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta - he searches in vain for love for love and for himself. Will he draw the strength for art from his failure in life? art from his failures in life? Or will he fail in himself, even in alcohol? Like in a kaleidoscope, ever new constellations and shimmering colors constellations and shimmering colors German romanticism and French esprit.

Les Contes d'Hoffmann

What happens when, in times of war and destruction, even your own family becomes a battlefield and mistrust, desire and betrayal break out? The cruel, ingenious and at the same time megalomaniac King of Pontus, Mitridate, fights a hopeless war against the Romans, while his two sons are under pressure from their father and his fiancée Aspasia decides against her duty and in favor of her feelings and turns away from him. With Mitridate, the 14-year-old Mozart composed his first full-length opera seria according to all the rules of the time and at the same time a work in which his humanistic flair already shines through. In the arias, he gives the ensemble of singers ample opportunity to explore the depths of the human soul and display their vocal virtuosity. Preserving the essence of this historical operatic genre, but at the same time reinterpreting its form, the aim is to create something in which the orchestra is integrated both visually and in terms of content. In this way, the fate of the characters can be experienced directly through visible music-making.

Mitridate, re di Ponto

Young Tatyana falls in love with Eugene Onegin, and confesses her love for him, against all convention. When he pretends that marriage is not for him, she weds Prince Gremin in haste. After many years, Tatyana and Onegin meet again, but their belated confession of mutual love cannot bring them back together.

Eugene Onegin

Don Pasquale, an older, wealthy man with a desire for a young, modest wife, meets the young couple Ernesto and Norina in Donizetti's opera. The only thing missing for their great love happiness is the blessing of money. Malatesta, a doctor friend, develops a cunning plan so that in the end the perfect intrigue emerges and Don Pasquale becomes the plaything of the young people.

Don Pasquale

Never one to miss an opportunity to make fun of others, the hunchback jester Rigoletto is employed by the Duke of Mantua. His only joy in life is his daughter Gilda. When Rigoletto must witness how she falls for the calculated vows of love of the unscrupulous Duke, he is out for revenge: he hires the contract killer Sparafucile to murder the seducer. Gilda, however, sacrifices herself for her lover. Rigoletto realises that he has driven his daughter to death and destroyed his own life.

Rigoletto

Maria and Elisabetta: two queens fight for power and love. Between them stands Count Leicester, Elisabetta's lover, who is attracted to Maria. The two women meet in the park of Fotheringhay Castle - a duel of emotions, fought with the weapons of bel canto, coloratura on a knife's edge. In the end, the Catholic Maria will ascend the scaffold with her head held high, while the Protestant Elisabetta will keep her throne but lose her love.

Maria Stuarda

California in 1850: hundreds of thousands have fallen for the gold rush – and some of them also for the barkeeper Minnie, at whose saloon various fortune seekers meet every evening. Among them is Sheriff Jack Rance. Minnie, however, falls in love with the stranger Dick Johnson. It soon turns out that Johnson is a wanted robber: the sheriff wants to see him hang and have Minnie to himself. A round of poker is to decide about Dick’s life: is there yet another trump up Minnie’s sleeve?

La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West)

For Leonora, the troubadour Manrico's song holds the promise and the fervor of love, while Manrico's rival Count Luna perceives threat and danger in it. Verdi's opera is a celebration of Italian opera singing at its finest - it is no coincidence that the title character is himself a singer. And yet, for the composer, Azucena, Manrico's mother, was the real main character. Il trovatore is rich in dramatic complications and intense emotions, which Verdi juxtaposes harshly in images and scenes. The tragedy unfolds relentlessly before our eyes and ears until the truth is revealed in the last seconds of the opera.

Il trovatore

Hamburg State Opera

The outsider Herman loves Liza, who is engaged to Prince Yeletsky. Herman is a passionate gambler: he is desperate to win a fortune and reputation in order to win Liza’s heart. When he learns that her grandmother knows the secret of the three winning cards, fate takes its course.

Pique Dame

Scarpia, Rome’s chief of police, desires Tosca. Since her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, is among the government’s political enemies, Scarpia has him imprisoned. He orders Cavaradossi’s execution and hopes to force Tosca into granting him one night with her, in exchange for Cavaradossi’s release. She, however, thwarts his plans…

Tosca

Inspired by his romantic love for Mathilde Wesendonck, Richard Wagner created one of the most beautiful operas in music history. This season, the Hamburg State Opera revives its legendary production by Ruth Berghaus of 1988.

Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)

During times of historical upheaval, the victors are filled with euphoric jubilation while fear spreads on the side of the losers. When cheerfulness grips the figures in Mozart’s piece, it is the swan song, full of schadenfreude, of dying structures, ancient privileges and traditional manners – including those between man and woman. Mozart (and Beaumarchais) hold the balance on the threshold between eras – as artists en route to self-marketing, as portraitists of their times, by precisely rendering a society whose balance is shifting, making Almaviva a ridiculous figure. His class is losing political power, and he compensates for this loss by becoming a slave to his sexual desire. The wind is blowing from the past, giving wing to Walter Benjamin’s angel of history. It is a storm for the winners, and for the losers a mere melancholy breeze. The angel sees nothing but ruins.

Opera events in Hamburg

Der fliegende Holländer

Staatsoper Hamburg

Die Zauberflöte (The Magi...

Staatsoper Hamburg

Ariadne auf Naxos

Staatsoper Hamburg

Manon

Staatsoper Hamburg

Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Staatsoper Hamburg

Mitridate, re di Ponto

Staatsoper Hamburg

Eugene Onegin

Staatsoper Hamburg

Don Pasquale

Staatsoper Hamburg

Rigoletto

Staatsoper Hamburg

Maria Stuarda

Staatsoper Hamburg

La Fanciulla del West (Th...

Staatsoper Hamburg

Il trovatore

Staatsoper Hamburg

Pique Dame

Staatsoper Hamburg

Tosca

Staatsoper Hamburg

Tristan und Isolde (Trist...

Staatsoper Hamburg

Le Nozze di Figaro

Staatsoper Hamburg