Andrew Watts

England, 1600. Queen Elizabeth I promises Orlando, a young nobleman obsessed with poetry, that she will grant him land and fortune if he agrees to satisfy a very particular request.

As the dragons have almost disappeared from the kingdom of Bayala, the magic powers of the fairies are weakening. The fairy princesses Sera and Surah are thrilled when they discover they have the key to save the world in their hands: a dragon egg! Now the sisters must reach the dragon mountains and they embark on an adventurous journey into the unknown...

Intrigue, champagne, and irony: in a production directed by Barrie Kosky, the Bavarian State Opera presents a sparkling production of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

Barrie Kosky gives the “operetta of all operettas” a new look and devotes himself to its morbid side. The setting is Vienna, city of the golden operetta era, where Die Fledermaus premiered at the Theater an der Wien in 1874. The bat's revenge becomes a nightmare, and not just for Gabriel von Eisenstein. A society, an entire city dances towards the abyss. To take revenge on his friend Eisenstein, Dr. Falke, alias Die Fledermaus, stages a game of mistaken identity at Count Orlofsky's house. A marquis and a chevalier, a countess and budding artists meet there for a raucous party. Glasses clink, relationships are shaken, people love, lie and dance. The party lasts as long as it lasts, true to the motto: “Happy is he who forgets...”.

This staging of Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Minotaur features John Tomlinson, Johann Reuter, Christine Rice, and Andrew Watts in the main roles. Stephen Langridge directed the production for the stage, and Antonio Pappano conducted the orchestra.