Since the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, June has been traditionally declared as Pride Month. The Volksoper also aims to stand up with a clear message of diversity and love, and to show solidarity with the queer community worldwide. Therefore, we will ceremoniously raise the Pride flag in front of the Volksoper with a musical program and then proceed to the foyer to continue the evening with a concert.
George Balanchine, Martin Schläpfer, Marco Goerke
Violine: Bettina Gradinger, Vesna Stanković-Moffatt, Anne Harvey-Nagl / Orchester der Volksoper Wien
In German language with English surtitles
Canadian director Robert Lepage has been working successfully for many years with Ex Machina, an innovative multidisciplinary company. In this production developed jointly by Lepage and Ex Machina, Prospero recreates La Scala in Milan on his island, where he intends to take revenge on his enemies as a theatrical magician.
The premiere of Les Sylphides as part of the first Paris season of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1909 caused a great stir, with Tamara Karsavina, Anna Pavlova, Alexandra Baldina and Vaslav Nijinsky as the soloists. Its choreographer, Michel Fokine, had created the world’s first “ballet blanc” – a ballet without a clear narrative – to a score of music by Frédéric Chopin. In a highly poetic atmosphere, as if sleepwalking, he revealed images of a young man who meets the wondrous sylphides in a mystic wood. In the extended version of the work that had been performed in St. Petersburg in 1907 as Chopiniana, Fokine succeeded in discovering the foundation stone for contemporary dance in the fairytale magic of Romantic ballet.
The appeal of Margarethe Wallmann's »Tosca« production has stood the test of time since 1958. The staging has also garnered interest on account of its symbolic allure with the impressive number of renowned artistic personalities who have appeared before the Viennese audience in this very production with these very decorations and in these very costumes in memorable performances. The gallery of outstanding performers will now be continued in all three performance series of this season, including with Viennese role debuts of international audience favourites.
A troupe of travelling players under the direction of Viennese magician Kratky-Baschik are working under high pressure to create their very own, darker version of Mozart’s opera THE MAGIC FLUTE. The end justifies any means: they write new songs in a variety of styles (“Who will be the first to hit f6?”). Based on the original composition, they mix fragments of the libretto with improvisations and new lyrics, and, in terms of aesthetics, they search for a style reminiscent of the lost world of vaudeville, cabaret and Prater street theatre. This (fictional) group’s crises and joyful moments along the path to the perfect show increasingly blend with the real origin story of Mozart’s world famous opera.
In Italian language with German and English surtitles
The story of a mermaid who falls in love with a human, abandons her life in the sea and fails in the world has been taken up by many a Europe's fairy tales and legends. One need only think of Hans Christian Andersen's tale The Little Mermaid, which enjoys enduring popularity to this day. Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka was also inspired by Andersen, but the opera, which premiered in 1901, also dealt with numerous other themes.