Destiny

Live performance from the Opéra National de Paris, 2003.

Mozart's "Idomeneo" is a work about love, hate, jealousy, war and destruction. It shows in a disturbing way the musical genius of the Salzburg composer. Each figure is characterized individually without losing sight of the musical whole. In a way, "Idomeneo" anticipates Wagnerian techniques in composition. The direction of this production at Madrid's Teatro Real was in the proven hands of Robert Carsen, who brings the work to the stage in a contemporary, modern and very disturbing way. Under the sovereign direction of Ivor Bolton, Eric Cutler, David Portillo, Anett Fritsch and Eleonora Buratto are among the singers.

Director Robert Carsen and his creative team flood the stage with summer blossoms, drifts of autumn leaves, winter snows and thunderous spring storms. The cast of 140 are attired in elegant costumes inspired by late 1940s Dior. This mythical tale of a young queen, Alphise, determined to abdicate rather than contemplate an enforced marriage to a descendant of Boreas, is nothing less than highly-charged.

1995 recorded performance of Charles Gounod's Faust at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, with conductor John Nelson.

Oedipus is the son of Laius. Unknowingly, he killed his father, married his mother, and fathered four children, who are his siblings. A work by Sophocles, directed by Robert Carsen, dramaturgy by Ian Burton, translation by Francesco Morosi. The show was revived as part of the 57th season of the INDA Foundation at the Greek Theater in Syracuse.

Blind and wandering, Oedipus arrives in Colonus, near Athens, supported by Antigone and then also by Ismene. Everyone avoided him, but now everyone seeks him, because the city that will have his tomb will be invincible, according to the oracles. Oedipus drives everyone away and, accompanied by the Athenian king Theseus, sets off towards death. Directed by Robert Carsen.

A production of Lully's 1686 tragédie lyrique masterpiece directed by William Christie at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées from 2008.

Baritone Michael Volle stars as the caddish knight Falstaff, gleefully tormented by a trio of clever women who deliver his comeuppance, in Verdi’s glorious Shakespearean comedy. Maestro Daniele Rustioni takes the podium to oversee a brilliant ensemble cast that features sopranos Hera Hyesang Park and Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, tenor Bogdan Volkov, and baritone Christopher Maltman.

Robert Carsen's production of Benjamin Britten's opera for Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.

From the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the world premiere of “Julius Caesar” with music by Giorgio Battistelli. Orchestra and chorus of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, conducted by Daniele Gatti, directed by Robert Carsen.

Based on a true story, the "Dialogues des Carmelites" sets the life of the Carmelites nuns at the dawn of the French Revolution. “Robert Carsen's production is effective in its simplicity, allowing the drama to speak for itself. Dagmar Schellenberger compellingly conveys Blanche's journey from distress to acceptance… Anja Silja's portrayal of the old Prioress is outstanding, with its disturbing transformation from serene wisdom to terrified, blasphemous, near-madness as death approaches. ...Riccardo Muti and the La Scala orchestra in magnificent form, captured in magnificent sound. Ultimately, it is the final scene, with its multiple executions, that makes or breaks a production of Dialogues. Carsen's allegorical solution is both elegant and deeply moving.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2007

The oppressive atmosphere before a storm and the tragic fate of a tormented young woman form the indivisible elements of "Katia Kabanova". The opera's action is set in a small Russian village around 1860 and represents the annihilation and subsequent suicide of Katerina Kabanova, a sensitive young woman married to a weak man and bullied by her mother-in-law, who is searching for liberation through love and ends her life consumed by remorse for her infidelity. The story's common denominator is the Volga river, a witness of the main character's hapless family relations and her frustrated passion, and in whose merciful waters she finally finds peace. The adaptation into the Czech language of Ostrovsky's tragic play "The Storm" allowed Janáček to create one of his most outstanding operas, in which the conciseness and intensity of the musical language are merged with the dramatic force of his libretto. This is the Teatro Madrid Production Recorded in December, 2008.

An arresting and star-studded production of Mozart’s Singspiel nonpareil: in the 2013 Baden-Baden Easter Festival, a group of outstanding soloists joined Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker for Die Zauberflöte in an attractive and naturalistic staging by Robert Carsen.

Opera by George Frideric Handel filmed on March 29, 2016 at the Theater in Vienna, Austria.