Carl Maria von Weber

Stuttgart 1981

A troubled marksman, desperate to secure love and status, turns to forbidden magic in a rural community ruled by superstition and ritual. This stark television adaptation strips Weber’s Romantic opera of spectacle, recasting it as a bleak folk-horror parable about fear, failure, and the cost of choosing certainty over conscience.

Petrushka, Le Spectre De La Rose, and L'Apres Midi D'une Faune performed by Nureyev and the Joffrey Ballet as a tribute to the legacy of Vaslav Nijinsky.

Production of the Munich Opera Festival 2017. The plot of Carl Maria von Weber's romantic fairy opera, which premiered at London's Covent Garden in 1826, is quite astonishing: after the fairy king Oberon has fallen out with his wife Titania, it is humans of all people who are supposed to make things right. Titania will only be reconciled if a human couple proves the truthfulness of their love to the death. Oberon's servant Puck already has someone in mind: the crusader Hüon of Bordeaux, who loves the caliph's daughter Rezia.

The legendary director Ruth Berghaus created this staging of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz as a gripping theatrical experience for the Zurich Opera in 1993. Its revival in 1999 was a roaring success. With sets by Hartmut Meyer and costumes by Marie-Louise Strandt, Berghaus’ staging avoids the local peasant colour conventionally associated with Weber’s opera. Chorus and orchestra of the Zurich Opera House are conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, universally celebrated for the structural transparency of his interpretations, his intellectual penetration and his emotional understanding of both music and opera plot. And last but not least an all-star cast made this production a highly memorable event: the dramatic soprano Inga Nielsen as Agathe, one of her best roles, the Swedish soprano Malin Hartelius as Ännchen, the sought-after Heldentenor Peter Seiffert, who gives a convincing passionate Max, and many others.

Liubov Nosova won second prize at the 2024 edition of La Maestra. Here's a look back at her journey through this prestigious competition for female conductors.

On an open-air stage in the castle courtyard, Klaus Florian Vogt and the Munich Symphony Orchestra present a varied program featuring works by Mozart, Wagner, and Strauss.