Opera in Concert

Great operas from baroque to modern, in pure concert form or staged productions – and always with the best singers

Sir Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Rattle © Sebastian Hanel

As is well known, the Elbphilharmonie is not an opera house, but there is still music theatre here: both concert and staged opera performances have been part of the programme at the Elbe from the very beginning. Whether pure operatic enjoyment without velvet curtains and stage sets or productions with spectacular stage sets and costumes – it’s always the great voices of our time presenting the operas.

This also pleases Sir Simon Rattle, who knows: »In opera, the orchestra tells everything that is left unsaid in song.« In November, the star conductor presents Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s opera about the ancient myth of Medea with Magdalena Kožená in the title role. Season highlights also include René Jacobs’ original sound version of Bizet’s opera hit »Carmen« and Purcell’s »Dido and Aeneas« with Joyce DiDonato and Fatma Said. The Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and François-Xavier Roth come to Hamburg with a staged version of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s monumental work »Die Soldaten« (The Soldiers), and to close the season Kent Nagano and his Philharmonic Orchestra bring Olivier Messiaen’s only opera »Saint François d’Assise« to the stage on three evenings. By the way: German surtitles are available for most of the performances!　

Events of the series