Giacomo Puccini honours his own code by bringing all those elements together in a single work, Il trittico, which is made up of three one-act operas. Finding the right librettos was not easy, but one month after the end of the First World War, his…

When painter Gustav Klimt coated his famous paintings with gold leaf, Richard Strauss musically reveled in the opulence that was so typical of Vienna at the time. No fewer than five powerful Wagnerian voices are needed for his "Die Frau ohne Schatten…

The Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) died before he could complete his final opera Turandot. Fortunately, his lesser-known colleague Franco Alfano managed to use the maestro's notes to complete the opera in time for its April 26, 1926…

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 and for himself. Will he draw the strength for art from his failure in life…

Bieitos interpretation of Wagner‘s Lohengrin deals with love, hate, jealousy and hope, but above all with man‘s imperative need to believe in something. To visualise these two contrasting worlds, Bieito creates two settings on stage: the world of…

The French Baroque opera Hippolyte et Aricie carries its audience away into a realm of wonders with magnificent dance and choir scenes and the greatest possible multitude of musical forms. Philippe Rameau, a French contemporary of Bach and Handel…

This opera film is based on Jan Schmidt-Garre‘s highly acclaimed stage production of Beethoven‘s Fidelio. The producers carefully filmed and edited several performances. By using additional footage of Jacquelyn Wagner as Leonore the stage production…

Mozarts »Zauberflöte« ist nicht nur eine der berühmtesten Opern, sondern zugleich ein aufregendes Märchen. Da gibt es einen tapferen Prinzen und eine schöne Prinzessin, ein furchtbares Ungeheuer, eine böse Zauberin, einen weisen Priester – und…

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) one of Mozart’s five great repertoire operas, was a great success during Mozart’s lifetime and to this day has not lost any of its magic. In the Schwetzingen Entführung aus dem Serail…

Schwetzingen is a tiny town near Heidelberg which has a famous palace with magnificent gardens, not unlike those at Versailles. The Schwetzingen Festival is held every Spring in the palace and commissions a small-scale opera for the palace's…