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

The Semperoper Dresden is set to captivate audiences with a stellar lineup of performances that explore themes of love, betrayal, transformation, and the human experience. From the emotional rollercoaster in 'Intermezzo' to the enchanting journey of 'The Magic Flute,' and the poignant tale in 'La traviata,' each production promises to move and inspire. The event schedule also features festive concerts, ballet classics, and innovative new works, ensuring a season brimming with artistic brilliance and cultural enrichment.

A Season of Music and Drama: Semperoper Dresden's Spectacular Lineup

Experience a captivating blend of opera, dance, and concerts at the Semperoper Dresden. From the enchanting tale of 'The Magic Flute' to the exploratory dance of 'Wonderful World', and the heartfelt journey of 'La bohème', audiences are invited to an array of performances. Engage with the tribute to Vaslav Nijinsky, marvel at a special concert connecting man and nature, and let children explore musical masquerades. With each event, Semperoper Dresden continues to inspire and challenge, offering unique experiences that resonate deeply with both performers and attendees alike.

Semperoper Dresden: A Vivid Tapestry of Opera, Dance, and Concerts

Step into the world of captivating performances at the Semperoper Dresden, where a diverse lineup of artistic events awaits in 2025. From the enchanting opera of Mozart's 'Die Zauberflöte' to the exploration of balance in 'Wonderful World', the tragic love story of 'La bohème', and the archetypal German opera 'Der Freischütz', each event offers a unique cultural experience. Complementing these is the 40th anniversary of the Semperoper reopening, a historical reflection, and a variety of recitals and teasers, ensuring something for every art aficionado.

A Journey through Semperoper Dresden's Captivating 2025 Lineup

As the curtains rise in Dresden, the Semperoper unfolds a vibrant tapestry of operatic and ballet performances set to mesmerize audiences throughout 2024 and 2025. From the timeless allure of Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' to the avant-garde dance expressions in 'Wonderful World', the city's cultural scene promises a feast for the senses. With each event echoing the rich tradition and innovative spirit of this historic German city, the Semperoper stands as a beacon of artistic excellence, inviting enthusiasts to experience its kaleidoscope of stories, music, and movement.

Unveiling Dresden's Cultural Palette: A Year of Semperoper's Artistic Brilliance

The Semperoper Dresden is set to captivate audiences with a diverse array of performances in its upcoming season. From the timeless charm of Mozart's operas to the avant-garde exploration in 'Wonderful World', the events promise to offer something for every taste. Highlights include the legendary 'Die Zauberflöte,' the dramatic 'Lohengrin' by Wagner, and the thought-provoking 'Innocence.' The season will also celebrate significant milestones such as the 200th anniversary of the Semperoper Ballet, showcasing its rich heritage and ongoing innovation.

An Artistic Panorama: Exploring Semperoper Dresden's Upcoming Season

Semperoper Dresden is set to captivate audiences with its diverse lineup of performances, ranging from classical operas to innovative contemporary productions. Highlights include the classic tale 'The Magic Flute', the poignant love story of 'La bohème', the timeless tragedy of 'Roméo et Juliette', and the thought-provoking 'humanoid'. Each event showcases the talents of renowned artists and offers a unique experience. As we delve into these performances, we explore how they reflect broader cultural themes, contributing to the vibrant tapestry of the performing arts.

Exploring the Rich Tapestry of Performances at Semperoper Dresden

The Semperoper Dresden is set to dazzle audiences with a captivating lineup of operatic performances throughout 2025. Featuring timeless classics like 'The Magic Flute,' 'La bohème,' 'Tosca,' and 'Lucia di Lammermoor,' the season promises a blend of romance, drama, and breathtaking musical artistry. Additionally, the program highlights innovative pieces such as 'Candide' and the interactive 'Band for Kids: Schlagfertig,' ensuring a diverse offering for opera enthusiasts and newcomers alike. Join us as we delve into the highlights and nuances of these spectacular productions.

Exploring Operatic Wonders at Semperoper Dresden: A Season of Classics and New Beginnings

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

A few days before the curtain rises on a premiere, we invite you to enjoy a sneak preview of a new production by eavesdropping on part of an orchestral or staged rehearsal in the Semperoper or in Semper Zwei.

Premiere teaser: As One

Semper Zwei

Christmas Eve, 1871. In Cairo’s newly built opera house, the curtain rises on the premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. This is a turning point in cultural history, when an occidental passion for exoticism and an oriental interest in European high culture come together to create great art. Very few works of opera have achieved such widespread popularity. And rightly so: with its thrilling musical effects, exotic sounds and tableaux, the colourful instrumentation and monumental scenes alternating with moments of great intimacy, Aida is a true musical and dramatic treasure trove. And that’s not all. Through the tragic love affair between the Ethiopian princess Aida and the Egyptian army commander Radamès, torn between the interests of state, church and family, Giuseppe Verdi reflects on the crisis-ridden plight of the modern individual, ending with a highly moving plea for the utopian power of love.

Aida

Semperoper Dresden

The Soirée Una notte italiana invites you to get to know the most beautiful melodies from the land where the lemon trees bloom.

Semper Soirée – An Italian night

“How am I supposed to do that? I'm going mad!” On Fadinard’s wedding day, his horse eats the straw hat of a lady having a bit of fun with her lover in the bushes. But Anaide doesn’t dare return to her jealous husband Beaupertuis without her new Florentine hat: she simply has to get hold of a new one! An odyssey full of hijinks begins, taking Fadinard across the length and breadth of Paris ...

The Italian Straw Hat

Premiere teaser: The Florentine Hat

At Despite Everything: Love the poetry of Anna Akhmatovameets the music of Sergei Prokofiev.

 Semper Bar – Despite Everything: Love

For guests who enjoy discovering new and unexpected sounds, the relaxed atmosphere of Semper Bar's bar counter is a popular music venue.

At Despite Everything: Love the poetry of Anna Akhmatovameets the music of Sergei Prokofiev.

Semper Bar – Despite Everything: Love

The fool in Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s production of Rigoletto is clad in poisonous green, and equally toxic is his mockery of the gaggle of courtiers around the Duke of Mantua. But emotionally the fool is a mess, constantly worried about his daughter Gilda, whom he jealously shields from the clutches of the Duke, an infamous rake. When Gilda nevertheless falls victim to the Duke, Rigoletto swears bloody vengeance. But the plan backfires … The hugely successful premiere of Rigoletto took place at the Teatro La Fenice in 1851. Giuseppe Verdi created a score which he himself described as ”revolutionary“ in its ground-breaking musical and dramatic intensity. The end result is a deeply shocking work, and perhaps the best opera by the great Italian.

Rigoletto

The centuries-old Japanese kintsugi method of repairing ceramics can be translated as “golden joinery”. Shards of broken ceramic or porcelain vessels are bonded using urushi lacquer with the cracks deliberately highlighted with a dusting of powdered gold. The aim is not to conceal the damage, but to celebrate the hidden history of a cherished object. Behind this craft, which has been widespread since the 16th century, lies the idea, closely associated with Zen Buddhism, that beauty is not to be sought in perfection, but rather in imperfection and transience. These two components symbolise the flow of life, the becoming and passing of all being.

EPSG:4326

Parts and Pieces

Staatsschauspiel Dresden

When Carmen premiered successfully at the Royal Court Theatre in 1880, Georges Bizet's exceptional work found an almost permanent place in the repertoire in Dresden. In the 2025/26 season, the work will experience its eleventh new production at the Dresden State Opera—reason enough to reflect on the opera's fascinating reception history.

 Case number: “Love is a rebellious bird”

Archivio centrale di Stato di Dresda

If you could change the world right now, what would you do? Change the world! by Mart van Berckel and Pedro Beriso, showing at Semper Zwei, provides a great opportunity to reflect on this and a whole host of other questions. The production aims to transport the audience to the day after a revolution: in a room full of empty chairs (the remnants of barricades), four singers meet after devastating events to reflect, to mourn and to hope … and also to think of a way forward. But they are not alone. They are joined by spoken-word artist Amara van der Elst as a figure who is simultaneously both inside and outside events. According to Mart van Berckel: “Like a presenter or a storyteller, she is responsible for what happens on stage; she can press ‘play’ or ‘pause’, rewind or fast-forward. She’s the motor driving the performance.” She addresses the audience directly with challenging texts, constantly throwing up questions that demand an answer. Amara van der Elst partly drew these questions from the lyrics of the songs which, like a collage, were compiled for this production. The music from both the 19th and 20th centuries runs from Ludwig van Beethoven to Hanns Eisler. Alongside a heady sense of revolutionary tension, the production creates space for personal reflection. Change the world! That’s not a challenge but rather an invitation to tackle difficult questions.

Ändere die Welt!

Is Carmen’s gaze only to be compared with that of a wild animal? The French writer Prosper Mérimée explored this question in his novella Carmen, which was the basis for Georges Bizet’s (1838-1875) final opera, which premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875. Carmen’s air of seduction is both her weapon and her downfall, for in the end she dies at the hands of her jealous lover, Don José. Carmen refuses to be told what to do and certainly doesn’t want to be rescued by Don José in the shifting sands in front of the bullfighting arena. She prefers death to having her life decided by others. In the extremely popular and passionate “Habanera” aria, which is our first encounter with Carmen, she paints a picture of herself: “Love is a rebellious bird that none can tame.” Her indomitable desire for freedom is stamped in her DNA.

Carmen

Premiere teaser: Carmen

First performed in Dresden in 1924, Richard Strauss’s Intermezzo provides all manner of insights into his turbulent married life.

Intermezzo

In this program, you can experience a rather unusual combination of three unique and very special instruments. And all of them are absolutely record-breaking: the piccolo as the smallest and highest-pitched woodwind instrument, the tuba as by far the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument, and the harp as the orchestral instrument with the most strings! In a large orchestra, the three are often very far apart – and they have very different functions. But of course, the Olympic spirit is at the forefront of "Higher, Lower, Cheerful": "Taking part is everything," or, more accurately, making music together. We will get to know the different characteristic traits of the instruments and experience how, through the power of music, the piccolo, tuba, and harp, despite their great differences, can come together to form a wonderful whole!

Band for Kids: "Higher, deeper, merrier!"

For guests who enjoy discovering new and unexpected sounds, the relaxed atmosphere of Semper Bar's bar counter is a popular music venue.

Last season, the Semper Bar was a great success with Patrick Hahn, who made the songs of Georg Kreisler sparkle. That was reason enough to invite the musical jack-of-all-trades back to the Semperoper to conduct Richard Strauss's Intermezzo again.

Semper Bar – Patrick Hahn

Autier Capuçon has long since established himself as one of the leading cellists of his generation and regularly attracts attention with his recordings and concerts. Born in Chambéry in 1981, Capuçon began playing the cello at the age of five. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris with Philippe Muller and Annie Cochet-Zakine and then in Heinrich Schiff's master class in Vienna. The winner of numerous first prizes in international competitions, including the International André Navarra Prize, Capuçon was named Young Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique in 2001 and received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2004. Since then, he has also received several ECHO Klassik awards, most recently for his recording of Fauré's complete chamber music.

Recital of the Capell Virtuoso

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

“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?”

‘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

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

What would a child’s room say if it could talk? A boy goes on the rampage because he doesn’t want to do his homework; his mother, of course, blows her top. When the child vandalises his room and even torments his beloved cat, things take a surprising turn: suddenly, the mistreated furniture, cups, books and animals start to speak! And the child finds himself in a world in which he is forced to think about others.

Das Kind und der Zauberspuk / L’enfant et les sortilèges

Premiere teaser: Parsifal

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

For guests who enjoy discovering new and unexpected sounds, the relaxed atmosphere of Semper Bar's bar counter is a popular music venue.

Semper Bar – Choir of Machines

What a commotion: The sorcerer's apprentice uses a magic spell to make a broom bring water from the river to fill his bath. But then he is unable to stop the spell and prevent the broom from flooding the entire house! When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote the ballad of the sorcerer's apprentice over 200 years ago, he could not have imagined that the French composer Paul Dukas would set his poem to music 100 years later. Just as little could he have imagined that almost half a century later, Walt Disney would use Goethe's ballad and Dukas's music to create an animated film in which Mickey Mouse slips into the role of the sorcerer's apprentice. And he would probably have been surprised at how we find our very own approach to magic in our concert. Of course, the music of Paul Dukas for large orchestra cannot be missed, which the Staatskapelle Dresden will conjure up in the Semperoper. In it, you can experience all the moods and emotions that the sorcerer's apprentice goes through in the ballad, and be captivated and enchanted by them!

Band for Kids: »Magic«

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

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

Chamber concert of the Giuseppe Sinopoli Academy

In the midst of the French Revolution, a group of nuns fight for their self-determination, their faith and against the fear of death.

Dialogues des Carmélites

A few days before the premiere, the Semperoper invites its audience to experience part of a stage orchestra or scenic rehearsal in the Semperoper or in Semper Zwei and to gain an advance insight into the new production.

Premiere teaser:Dialogues of the Carmelites

Special concert at the Kulturpalast

Palace of Culture

The city of Tromaville (New Jersey) is becoming a disaster zone as it suffocates under the fumes from toxic waste, threatening the health of its inhabitants. And instead of cleaning up the mess, the local mayor, Babs Belgoody, is actually raking in kickbacks for allowing piles of the toxic goo to be stored all over the place–But help is at hand: none other than shy Melvin Ferd the Third, now mutated into a green super-hero after being doused in toxic waste, decides to rescue the town and, in the process, win the heart of blind librarian Sarah. This fast-paced, energetic rock musical by David Bryan (the keyboardist from »Bon Jovi«) and Joe DiPietro premiered in New York in 2009. In 2023 the Toxic Avenger will rock the stage of Semper Zwei in his fight for justice, tolerance and the protection of the environment, aided by brilliantly catchy songs, romantic ballads and lots of comedy.

The Toxic Avenger

The Semperoper Ballett company performs John Neumeier's full-length homage to dance legend Vaslav Nijinsky.

Nijinsky

Semper Bar – David DQ Lee

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly cannot accept that her great love is doomed to end in heartbreak.

Madama Butterfly

The Semperoper's matinees and soirées invite you to explore musical worlds beyond the opera repertoire.

Semper Matinée – Winter Dreams

A story fizzing with irony and champagne, all danced to the sounds of the waltz.

Die Fledermaus

In the fairytale forest, we encounter the familiar figures of the poor siblings who have lost their way as well as the Gingerbread Witch. The story comes to a head in the famous edible house, which is sweet on the outside but a death trap within. In 1893 Engelbert Humperdinck transformed the tale by the Brothers Grimm into a work which is probably the most famous fairy-tale opera in the repertoire.

Hansel and Gretel

When Jacob finds a magical fish that can grant wishes, the demands on the magical animal soon take on threatening proportions...

Gold!

Case number:Andersen's fairy tales

Kay and Gerta's journey to the Snow Queen and into the depths of the human soul.

The Snow Queen

Premiere teaser: The Snow Queen

Semper Bar – Introducing the Junge Ensemble

Advance ticket sales are available through the ticket service of the Frauenkirche Dresden Foundation:

ZDF Advent Concert

Frauenkirche Dresden

A Window on Jazz has become an integral part of the Semper Zwei programme. In the 2024/25 season, that true legend of free jazz, Günter Baby Sommer, together with photographer and jazz fan Matthias Creutziger will once again invite outstanding artists to transform Semper Zwei into a jazz club.

A Window on Jazz

Pjotr I. Tschaikovsky’s »Nutcracker«, which premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892, is a Christmas classic as popular with Semperoper audiences as Dresden Stollen or the famous Striezelmarkt. In their interpretation, Aaron S. Watkin and Jason Beechey have drawn on the stories of E. T. A. Hoffmann to create a fairy-tale classical ballet set in Dresden during the festive period: On Christmas Eve, Marie is given a nutcracker that immediately becomes her prized possession. Soon, however, danger appears in the form a horde of belligerent mice. Then the nutcracker springs to life and does battle with the enemy army. Accompanied by her new protector, the girl embarks on a journey through a land of sweet dreams, and into adulthood.

The Nutcracker

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the German premiere of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot on July 4, 1926, the archive format "Aktenzeichen" is dedicated to this successful last opera by the composer. It explores the historical background, the impressive stage design, and the intriguing question of the final version of the Dresden premiere.

Case number:Far Eastern exoticism on the express train

It is a game of life and death initiated by the elusive Princess Turandot: each suitor for her hand must solve three riddles. Failure means execution. And so far, no prince has been able to win the great prize. But then a stranger arrives in the kingdom of Turandot, Prince Calaf, who is determined to take on the challenge. When he solves the riddles and claims the princess in marriage as agreed, he encounters a frightened woman who refuses to wed the stranger – and now the princess becomes the tortured one, for she must find out the prince’s name in order to keep her freedom. Unfinished at his death, Giacomo Puccini’s final opera was premiered as a fragment in 1926. This is a multi-layered masterpiece of great emotional intensity, musical brilliance and unique in its use of exotic Chinese melody. French stage director Marie-Eve Signeyrole makes her Semperoper debut with this operatic thriller.

Turandot

Do machines also have human rights? In the year 2037, the programmer Jonah has withdrawn to his studio following the loss of his partner. There, with the help of his robot Juri, he builds the android Alma. His best friend Piet becomes increasingly worried by Jonah’s growing attachment to Alma. And why does he erase her memory every night? When an unknown child sneaks into the rooms and befriends Alma, the small world of the studio is shaken to its core. And what is the story behind the mysterious appearance of Jonah’s former girlfriend Vivienne?

Humanoid

Two works by Stephanie Lake and Akram Khan deal with aspects of individual freedom in movement.

Wings and Feathers

Premiere teaser: Wings and Feathers

The Northern Lights evening takes you on a musical journey to Scandinavia, with works by Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, but also by composers less well known in this country, such as Hugo Alfvén and Ture Rangström.

 Semper Soirée – Northern Lights

The programmes of the University Symphony Orchestra regularly feature large-scale, significant symphonic works that challenge students. Look forward to the musicians of tomorrow, who have the chance to demonstrate their skills and talent in the beautiful ambience of the Semperoper. The programme will be announced at a later date.

Concert of the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden

Who doesn’t know the heart-breaking story of the young couple from Verona? Two people from feuding families who love each other so much that, after flouting tradition and their rigid family structures, they have the courage to pay for this outrage with death. Romeo and Juliet want to do more than just break the rules – they wish to love and to live freely. The version of William Shakespeare’s play, published in 1597, has been adapted many times for theatre, ballet, film, musicals and opera, including „Roméo et Juliette“ by Charles Gounod.

Roméo et Juliette

The celebrated singer Tosca lives only for art, until political intrigue suddenly disturbs her life and that of her lover, the painter Cavaradossi: When Cavaradossi hides the political refugee Angelotti, he is targeted by the unscrupulous police chief Scarpia, who has long had his eye on Tosca. To save Cavaradossi, Tosca not only has to betray Angelotti, but also give herself to Scarpia. Premiered in 1900, Puccini’s »Tosca« is practically unique in its close interweaving of political power and personal passions. The German premiere of this opera about love, jealousy, betrayal and tyranny was held in Dresden in 1902. Director Johannes Schaaf has found a timeless narrative style for his staging.

Tosca

This ballet evening by Stephanie Lake, which is about the interaction of large groups, brings together dancers from the Semperoper Ballett and the Palucca School.

Colossus Kids

How terrible must life be if you can’t laugh? Sergei Prokofiev’s opera The Love for Three Oranges is about a king who wishes to help his sick son. But only one thing can cure the malady of the heir to the throne: laughter. While the doctors are trying their luck, Truffaldino and Fata Morgana get into a fight, during which the latter is knocked over.

The Love for Three Oranges

Is the world a disc? What if it tilts? Is life just a balancing act? What happens to our society when we lose our equilibrium? Extreme situations affect the whole world, are a challenge to humanity and lead to the most diverse reactions. Kinsun Chan and Martin Zimmermann explore such situations in abstract form, examining how individuals deal with these while depicting how change, both external and internal, leads to constant struggle. The dancers perform on an unstable stage floor that can tilt with every movement. This is the precarious platform on which the performers are exposed, risking life and limb in the process. Tirelessly, they try to make connections with others, and in so doing face the challenge of losing their balance and even the ground beneath their feet. The situations shift from controlled, abstract moments to uncontrolled, surreal chaos and, finally, to redemptive liberation.

Wonderful World

“If Falstaff got thinner, what would he be?” Sir John Falstaff loves food, wine and women – and urgently needs cash to pay off his debts. Despite his advanced age, he considers himself an irresistible heartthrob and writes two identical love letters to Mrs Alice Ford and Mrs Meg Page in order to get his hands on their husbands’ money. But the two women see through his plan and begin to play him at his own game ...

Falstaff

A few days before the curtain rises on a premiere, we invite you to enjoy a sneak preview of a new production by eavesdropping on part of an orchestral or staged rehearsal in the Semperoper or in Semper Zwei. In discussion with members of the directing or choreography team, you will first receive background information on the work, the music and the interpretation before we throw open the doors to the rehearsal. Which part of this preparatory work you experience is sometimes only decided on the day itself and depends on the rehearsal schedule.

Premiere teaser: Falstaff

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 :Fairytale stories

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

Meeting point: Stage entrance : Magic instruments sound

Meeting point: Stage entrance : A look behind the scenes

Meeting point: Stage entrance :Fairytale characters

Meeting point: Stage entrance : Fantastic children's room

After his acclaimed literary adaptations of »Carmen« and »Peer Gynt«, Johan Inger now turns to a classic ballet that will reveal yet another facet of his art: »Swan Lake«. In 2023, the Swedish choreographer has reinterpreted this great work for Semperoper Ballett and, in so doing, addressed some profound questions: How are personal relationships affected by violence and manipulation? And what roles do personal freedom, respect and acceptance play in a loving relationship?

A Swan Lake

Music is always created through movement – ​​it is the vibrations of an instrument that are created by a musician. The music we then hear can not only trigger a variety of emotions in us, such as joy or sadness, but also an irrepressible urge to move! Speaking of urge to move: It's a good coincidence that 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss. His music represents lavish, dance-filled nights at balls. When you hear it, you can hardly keep your feet still! In our program "Step by Step," however, we first take a step back and explore together which movement is hidden in which music. There is music that makes you fall completely still and want to remain motionless. And there is music that immediately tears you from your seat, that makes you want to jump up and dance along! We will move between these two points in "Step by Step." And of course, we want to get you dancing!

Band for Kids: »Step by Step«

The Sächsische Landesgymnasium für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden is celebrating its 60th anniversary. Former and current students present works by important composers who have shaped Dresden – a dialogue between generations. Dmitri Jurowski, former student and conductor, is on the podium. The concert honours the artistic heritage of the school.

Concert of the Landesgymnasium für Musik

Pedrillo, his lover Blonde and Konstanze, having been kidnapped by pirates and dragged into the seraglio by the Pasha, Bassa Selim, hope to be rescued. Konstanze’s fiancé Belmonte attempts to free them – but fails. Only the Pasha himself can grant them their freedom. Orientalism and Enlightenment meet colourful costumes and a fairytale backdrop in this production by the Dutch director and stage designer Michiel Dijkemas. In The Abduction from the Seraglio, which premiered in Vienna in 1782, Mozart gathered together numbers that are still some of the most famous in operatic literature such as Konstanze’s aria Martern aller Arten, Blonde’s Welche Wonne, welche Lust, Pedrillo’s Auf zum Kampfe or the exotic Chorus of the Janissaries.

Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Schneewitte loves her father, the King, and her beautiful stepmother. Everything is perfect – until one day the girl is all grown up, and a thousand times more beautiful than the Queen. A self-confident teenager, Schneewitte claims the throne. Trouble is brewing: the King is annoyed, and the stepmother wants Schneewitte dead. But suddenly she has seven quick-witted dwarves at her side. »Schneewitte«, which premiered in 2008, is a funny and clever adaptation of the story of Snow White by Sophie Kassies and composer Jens Joneleit. This scintillating piece of musical theatre employs contemporary music as well as jazz and pop to playfully retell the well-known fairy tale. Using only a few props, director Andrea Kramer imaginatively transforms the stage of Semper Zwei into a royal palace with a telephone, a dark forest underlaid with an orchestral soundscape, or simply into the house of the seven dwarves, who by the way also play the instruments of the orchestra.

Snow White

A shared flat in Paris’s bohemian world of artists and students: The lives of the poet Rodolfo and his friends are filled with talk of freedom, independence, art, as well as financial hardship. When Rodolfo falls in love with his neighbour Mimì, everything seems to have taken a turn for the better, but poverty and Mimì’s illness overshadow the relationship. The young couple become closely attached. Later they separate, only rediscovering their love when it is already too late. At the time of its premiere in 1896, Puccini’s best-known work broke new ground in Italian opera through its prosaic scenery and everyday subject matter. This staging by Christine Mielitz of Puccini’s fourth opera is one of the most popular productions at the Semperoper.

La bohème

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

The Magic Flute

Tired of the big city and its abundance of parties and women, the dandy Eugene Onegin travels to the countryside, where he meets Tatjana, the daughter of an estate owner. Dreaming of romantic love as described in books, she thinks she has found it in Onegin. However, he is unwilling to be tied down. After brusquely rejecting her, it is only years later that Onegin comes to understand his awful mistake and his lack of courage. Yet the realization comes too late: Tatjana has already become the wife of Prince Gremin. Tchaikovsky based his touching and intimate masterpiece from 1878 on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin. The opera not only illuminates the torn inner lives of the protagonists, but also the pitfalls of modern relationships. Markus Bothe breaks up the story's chronology using flashbacks of the various characters to create an allusive series of images in which memory, mood and the drama of the present flow seamlessly into one another.

Eugen Onegin

A maelstrom of violence is unleashed when love turns to envy, when actions are driven by betrayal and madness. David’s triumph over the giant Goliath comes to an abrupt end when King Saul views the young hero as a rival for the throne. Although Saul does everything in his power to kill David, the latter enjoys divine protection. In the end, Saul himself dies and David takes the crown for himself.

Saul

Elisabeth – Das Musical von Michael Kunze und Sylvester Levay hat sich seit seiner Uraufführung 1992 in Wien zum beliebtesten und weltweit erfolgreichsten deutschsprachigen Musical entwickelt: Die dramatische und berührende Geschichte über Leben, Wirken und Leiden der österreichischen Kaiserin sorgte bislang bei über zwölf Millionen Zuschauern in 14 Ländern für Jubel und Begeisterung! 

Elisabeth - Das Musical

The Semper Bar doesn’t close its doors until the end of June when Aaron Pegram sends us off into the summer holidays with an entertaining crossover programme.

Semper Bar – Aaron Pegram

It was by no means just a chamber music appendage in an academy that included major orchestral works such as the C major piano concerto and the Symphony No. 1. When Beethoven presented new works for the first time on his own account in Vienna on April 2, 1800, the E-flat major septet was the longest item on the program. In his letter to the publisher, the composer pointed out that it was a work for seven full voices and not just a string quartet that could be supplemented by wind instruments. The septet became Beethoven's most popular work during his lifetime: it was not only played frequently, but also appeared in countless more or less authorized arrangements.

8th Chamber Evening

Shostakovich's piano concertos are rarely separated. The first dates from 1933. With its witty humor, it is reminiscent of silent film music: the composer once earned his living as a cinema pianist. The neoclassical second from 1957, on the other hand, seems out of date. "I have finished a piano concerto that has no value whatsoever," judged the Russian. But like so many things, these words should not be taken too lightly: Shostakovich composed the work for his son, who he did not want to prevent from seeing it. To open the Shostakovich Days, Marie Jacquot combines the Janus-faced pair with Kurt Weill's 2nd Symphony, which was premiered in exile in Paris in 1934.

Special concert on the eve of the International Shostakovich Days Gohrisch

Kulturpalast Dresden

Mendelssohn's "Scottish" is a prime example of romantic classicism: its wanderlust, its folk tone and its world of legends are romantic, while its structure is classicist. The work was inspired by a trip to Scotland in 1829. Mendelssohn found the opening A minor motif in the ruins of Holyrood Palace: "I think I have found the beginning of my Scottish Symphony today," he wrote to his parents. But the ascending triad remained unused for a long time. It was not until 1840 that Mendelssohn resumed work on this composition. The youthful work now became a symphony of maturity in the immediate vicinity of another masterpiece, the E minor Violin Concerto.

4. Aufführungsabend

Most people have probably heard the song "Sleep, little child, sleep" before going to sleep. It is one of over 700 German folk songs that the poets Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano published just over two hundred years ago, many of which are still very well known today. They called this collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". About a hundred years later, the composer Gustav Mahler set some of these songs to music for a singer and orchestra. In fact, Gustav Mahler often used very popular melodies in his works that he himself had heard as a child in his Moravian homeland. And so he invented his own musical language. In this concert we will play some songs from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn", among others. Just like in the seventh symphony concert of the Staatskapelle. Sharing with the family is encouraged!

Band for Kids: »Wunderhorn«

humanoid

Premiere teaser: humanoid

er Kammermusiktausch mit dem Leipziger Gewandhaus rückt zum Jubiläum von Dmitri Schostakowitsch mit dessen zweitem Klaviertrio eines seiner wichtigsten Werke in den Mittelpunkt. Es entstand im Andenken an Iwan Sollertinski. Der Dramaturg hatte dem Komponisten nicht nur die Musik Gustav Mahlers nahegebracht, sondern auch gewichtige Impulse für das Schaffen Schostakowitschs gegeben. Neben der Trauer um den Freund spiegelt das Trio die Not und das Elend der Kriegszeit. Ein aus jüdischer Volksmusik entlehntes Thema erinnert im Finale gleichermaßen an die Opfer Hitlers und Stalins. Es wird später im berühmten 8. Streichquartett von 1960 erneut verarbeitet – als düstere Mahnung an die Überlebenden.

7. Kammmerabend

Premiere teaser: Saul

Rundfoyer Semperoper

Guest concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Hamburg

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Based on Voltaire’s satire „Candide ou l’optimisme“, Leonard Bernstein created a masterpiece of modern operetta about the madness of the world. In a witty and lively mixture of opera, musical and revue, he not only parodies traditional dance forms such as the gavotte, mazurka, polka and waltz, but also slyly sprinkles the score with the operatic quotations.

Candide

Wherever we are, we are surrounded by rhythm: be it the water tap dripping steadily, the rattling of the tram or the enthusiastic clapping at the end of a concert. These types of rhythm surround us every day and we can hardly influence them. But we can also consciously tap out a rhythm, for example with a wooden spoon on a pot or with our hands on a table. In the orchestra, the drums are responsible for the rhythm. The drummers can not only play the most amazing rhythms, they can also produce very different tones and even melodies. We once cleared out the instrument cabinets of the Staatskapelle percussion group. We want to bring back and demonstrate what we found. You will be amazed!

Band for Kids: »Schlagfertig«

With „Classics“, the Semperoper Ballett premieres a programme that unites three dance creations that have become signature pieces of their respective creators:

Classics

Who doesn’t know the heart-breaking story of the young couple from Mantua? Two people from feuding families who love each other so much that, after flouting tradition and their rigid family structures, they have the courage to pay for this outrage with death. Romeo and Juliet want to do more than just break the rules – they wish to love and to live freely. The version of William Shakespeare’s play, published in 1597, has been adapted many times for theatre, ballet, film, musicals and opera, including „Roméo et Juliette“ by Charles Gounod.

After Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy left his parents' house in Berlin in 1829, his sister Fanny, who was married to the court painter Wilhelm Hensel, took over the management of the salon with the famous Sunday music. This was the only place where music lovers could experience her compositions, as her ambitions were not approved by her family for a long time. It was not until 1846 that Felix gave his blessing for the publication of his sister's compositions. Her last major work was the Piano Trio in D minor from 1847. Fanny's talent as a composer remained unnoticed for a long time - it was not until the turn of the 21st century that her work was systematically examined for musical practice.

6th Chamber Evening

Premiere teaser: Roméo et Juliette

In a kind of match, three choreographers enter the ring of Semper Zwei one after the other.

Tag Team – Phase 3

Guest Concert of the Staatskapelle Dresden in Madrid I

National Music Auditorium

Who am I? And how do I find out? Two soloists and a string quartet: sometimes that’s all it takes. Laura Kamsinky’s opera As One sensitively describes Hannah’s path to self-discovery. Based on the biography of Kimberly Reed – who co-wrote the libretto with Mark Campbell – it tells the story of a trans woman and her experiences with her family, with society and with herself. Since its world premiere in 2014, As One has become one of the most performed new operas in North America. The reviews have been glowing. According to the New York Classical Review: “As One is everything that we hope for in contemporary opera: topical, poignant, daring, and beautifully written.” And for Out Magazine, “(t)he success and beauty of As One is that it reveals epic emotions within an intimate frame.” Now visitors to Semper Zwei can also accompany Hannah on her journey from childhood to adulthood.

As One

Premiere teaser: Onegin

John Cranko's masterpiece based on Alexander Pushkin's classic tale of romantic tragedy tells the story of the love between the shy Tatiana and the dandy Onegin.

Semperoper Dresden

11 - 28 Jun, 2026

Aida

May 31 - Jun 29, 2026

The Italian Straw Hat

May 1 - Oct 9, 2026

Carmen

20 - 28 Jun, 2026

As One

Aug 30, 2025 - Jul 4, 2026

The Magic Flute

Jun 12, 2026

Premiere teaser: As One

11 - 28 Jun, 2026

Aida

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