Adrian Eröd

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini's immortal opera, in a high budget feature-film version directed by Academy Award nominee Robert Dornhelm, stars opera's 'Golden Couple', Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko as the protagonists, Rodolfo and Mimi. The chemistry between them is electric, unrivalled in the theatre today. Russian soprano Anna Netrebko is not only beautiful but has a marvelous voice and technique; Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon, has a wonderful voice and an incredible charisma. The director not only wanted to remain steadfastly faithful to Puccini's design but also document two of the leading singers of the modern age rather than embarking on a 'trendy' contemporary re-creation.

Reimann: Medea

Aribert Reimann is one of the worlds most important living composers. His works are performed regularly all over the world. Now comes his latest opera - Medea. Roughly 30 authors have written works based on this ancient myth but it was the play by Franz Grillparzer which inspired Reimann most: »In no other version is it made so brutally clear that Medea is an outsider. () Right from the start of act one my mind was flooded by musical ideas and by the end of the second act I really thought my head would burst. Vienna State Opera succeeded in recruiting Marco Arturo Marelli a man with a world-wide reputation, especially for global premieres as director and scenographer for this performance. Unusually for a world premiere, the first series of performances of the opera were a huge success amongst audiences and press alike. The public stormed the box office and ticket sales by far exceeded availability. A Sold Out notice had to be put up for virtually every performance!

The Merchant of Venice - Bregenzer Festspiele

Set in Venice during the Renaissance, the drama centres on Bassanio, a young nobleman who would like to court the beautiful Portia but doesn‘t have the money to travel to her country estate, so he asks the merchant Antonio for help. Antonio‘s wealth is tied up in maritime trade but he offers to procure the sum Bassanio needs from the Jewish money lender Shylock. Shylock hates Antonio for being so contemptuous in his treatment of Jews, and therefore stipulates that if the debt is not repaid within three months, the penalty will be a pound of Antonio‘s own flesh...

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier

With their “musical comedy” in the spirit of Mozart, Richard Strauss and his brilliant librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal created the most popular of all their works and one of the most frequently performed operas of all time. Disguised as a refined comedy, light as a feather and extremely entertaining, “Der Rosenkavalier” tackles universal themes such as love, sexuality, marital fidelity, and the changes that human relationships undergo over time. All set to music of the most sumptuous kind. With its prestigious cast under the inspired direction of Harry Kupfer, the 2014 Salzburg Festival production of *Der Rosenkavalier* was one of the most internationally acclaimed interpretations of the work since the start of the new millennium.

Jules Massenet: Manon

Massenet's opera as performed in March 2007 by the Wieners Staatsoper

Der Freischütz - Wiener Staatsoper

The young composer Max is due to marry Agathe, but before his wedding he must finish his opera on which he has been working for quite some time. Despite all his efforts, Max is plagued by worries that he will fail to complete the piece and so makes almost no progress. Visions and hallucinations haunt him, the boundaries between dream and reality seem to blur and overlap. Caspar tries to persuade him finally to give in to the hidden and dark creative powers within him and so overcome his inability to write; Caspar’s efforts are finally rewarded.

Carmen

Live performance from the Vienna State Opera, 6 May 2010.