In 2011 the Grand Opera Gala in support of the AIDS Foundation was held again at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The chorus and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin under the internationally acclaimed conductor welcome some of the world's leading Opera…

Albert Herring, Benjamin Britten's comic opera is gently laced with moments of farce and a jocular parody on life in East Suffolk at the turn of the 20th century. The libretto by Eric Crozier is based on Guy de Maupassant's story “Le Rosier de Madame…

The Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt (Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt (GKO)) was founded in 1964 in Tbilisi/Georgia. After twenty-six years, the ensemble has moved to Ingolstadt, where it has made its second home. The former orchestra-in…

Using the example of the impossible love between the Jew Samson and the Philistine Dalila, Camille Saint-Saëns shows the deadly conflict between two hostile cultures and religions. The Palestinian-Israeli production team, including the young Amir…

A film about Georges Bizet and his ill-starred masterpiece. This film has two themes: first the substance and narrative of Bizet's perennially popular opera and second the story of its disastrous première, which had such a dramatic effect on Bizet…

Copernicus, the man behind the title of the opera, brought the revolution that radically changed man’s way of seeing things, shifting from the earth to the sun and its sacred flames. Barely a few stories – for there is no dramatic conflict here, no…

Monteverdi’s iconic opera articulates Orpheus’ attempts to soothe the keepers of Hades with his voice and his lyre. He is allowed to release his beloved Eurydice from the realm of the dead, on the one condition that he does not turn around to look at…

At the centre of events is the power-crazed Poppea. She aspires to the top level of the hierarchy and seduces Emperor Nero. He is totally captivated by Poppea and does everything possible to marry her, even if it leads to murder. A classic drama…

What a strange idea Mondonville had! Based on a cruel fable by La Fontaine with a tragic ending, he wrote a charming opera libretto with a happy ending, and composed a delightful pastoral. In the prologue, Dame Clémence Isaure, the mythical founder…

Das Rheingold is the prologue to Wagner's Ring cycle, and opens up the rich world of gods, dwarves, giants, dragons and humans that the story inhabits. With beautiful orchestration and an unerring sense of the dramatic, the first opera explains how…