Production of the Salzuberger Festspiele 2024. French director Mariame Clément will explore the relationship between art and real life by linking the three “tales” with individual stages of Hoffmann's biography as an artist in her production. This has decisive consequences for the female characters, or rather for the view of the images that Hoffmann projects onto Stella: the angelic but emotionally cold Olympia, who turns out to be a doll;
When hard-working single father Luke stumbles across an underground nightclub, he meets Aysha, a beautiful, seductive woman. Their first kiss yields fireworks — which are immediately followed by Luke’s sobering realization that Aysha is not the cisgender woman he thought, but a remarkably femme drag queen. Unable to deny the spark between them the pair are forced down the unexpected path of transformation, where they must question their identities and confront their individual truths.
Dido, founder and queen of Carthage, falls in love with the Trojan hero Aeneas and they conduct a passionate affair. Tricked into leaving Dido by an evil Sorceress, Aeneas prepares his fleet in secret for departure. Dido cannot live without Aeneas and sings her great lament (‘When I am laid in earth’) and her passing is mourned by a chorus of cupids.
Olga Neuwirth, for a long time one of the great composers of the present, succeeds with this opera in creating a captivating arc across many musical genres. It’s an exciting, socially critical production by Polly Graham who puts a fantastically singing and playing Kate Lindsey in the center of the action.
Méphistophélès, less an intellectual "principle of negation" than a devilishly attractive magician, draws his attention to Marguerite - and Faust is delighted. A deal is quickly struck: the devil serves Faust on earth, and after Faust's death it is to be the other way around. Marguerite is also not unimpressed by what Méphistophélès has to offer: material luxury and sensual pleasure, often musically illustrated by Gounod with a waltz. But the relationship between Faust and Marguerite remains an episode, as Faust is drawn to new attractions, while Marguerite remains pregnant, only to see her unfaithful lover kill her brother.
The Seven Deadly Sins tells the story of two sisters, Anna I and Anna II. The sisters set out from the banks of the Mississippi River in Louisiana to find their fortune in the big cities, intending to send their family enough money to build a little house on the river. Along the way they encounter the seven deadly sins. Meanwhile, the fleshpots of Mahagonny attract many visitors, but prove disappointing and expensive; God orders the inhabitants to hell, but they revolt, claiming they are there already"
Glyndebourne's wartime history as a home for evacuee children is the ingenious context for a new production of this unclassifiable entertainment in which low comedy and high tragedy compete for our attention, "borne aloft by Strauss's divine music and Hofmannsthal's visionary poetry". At the centre of this production from Katharina Thoma is the noble, tragic figure of the abandoned Ariadne herself, in a haunting performance from Soile Isokoski, 'with brilliant support from the pit' (The Independent).
Directed by Richard Fenwick, commissioned and produced by onedotzero and BBC films as part of the prestigious new BBC comedy shorts scheme. Introverted Albert has a speech to deliver. In 18 minutes. For his best friend. In front of 100 people. Welcome to the world of the best man - as seen from the inside out.