Peter Schönhofer

Henry Purcell's opera Dido & Aeneas, completed in 1689, was the subject of a memorable and breathtaking performance at the Staatsoper Berlin in 2005. In Dido & Aeneas Sasha Waltz opens up new horizons in music theatre, creating a fusion of dance, singing and music the choreographic opera. The (extended, revised) libretto, the (reconstructed) music, vocal parts, dance, the stage set featuring a rousing underwater ballet combine to form a sublime total choreography and parallel action involving dancers, singers and musicians. In this choreographic opera, Sasha Waltz demonstrates not only her familiarity with Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Pina Bausch, but also the confidence she has in her own style. Sensational!

In the 16th century, in Cyprus, at the port of Famagusta, General Otello arrives with his ship after defeating the Turkish navy in the Mediterranean and securing Venetian rule over Cyprus, but jealousy, conspiracy and revenge lead to tragedy. ‘Otello’ is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with a libretto by Arrigo Boito based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello, the Moor of Venice’, and premiered on 5 February 1887 at La Scala in Milan. Taken from the ‘Tutto Verdi’ box set of 27 Verdi operas. Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, 5–10 August 2008.

Unabridged production of Goethe's Faust Ⅰ by Peter Stein's Faust Project.

The cruel King Ottokar of Bohemia, spoiled by fortune and unpredictable, is dead. Now, with the modest Rudolf of Habsburg, peace has finally returned to Austria, for he replaces tyrannical arbitrariness with God-fearing clemency—and the way is clear for a story that lasted 700 years and bears the title: "The Habsburgs in Austria." With this view of Franz Grillparzer's play, many productions have been staged since the premiere of "King Ottokar's Fortune and End" – Rudolf of Habsburg as the gatekeeper to the dawn of a new, better era. It became clear what a great projection screen Grillparzer's play offered. It should really be called "The Habsburgs' rise to power as a development toward the good, the just, the orderly." But it is called "King Ottokar's Fortune and End," and that is what it is about—the fortune and end of a human being and how the one is sometimes directly connected to the other.

The movie version of Christoph Schlingensief's stageplay.