EIF Opera leaflet 2011

2011

Mariinsky Opera Die Frau ohne Schatten

Photos: Natasha Razina

Die Frau ohne Schatten The Woman without a Shadow

By RiCHARD STRAuSS LIBReTTO By HuGO VOn HOFMAnnSTHAl

Mariinsky Opera Valery Gergiev Conductor The daughter of the King of Spirits cannot conceive a child – she is a woman without a shadow. If she does not fall pregnant, her father threatens to turn her husband to stone. Only a human woman can help her.

Die Frau ohne Schatten boasts perhaps Strauss’s most sumptuous score, poignantly illuminating the magic and warmth of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s characters. Led by Valery Gergiev, this epic production from St Petersburg’s famed Mariinsky Opera is a sublime operatic fantasy, radiantly evoking the contrasts between the beauty of the spirit world and the squalid reality of the human world.

Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 September 6.00pm Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Charity No. SC004694

‘strikingly realized… a shattering impact.’

FT.com Supported by

Harold Mitchell Esq, AC Mariinsky UK tour Supported by BP

Tickets from £16 eif.co.uk/diefrau 0131 473 2000 Die Frau ohne Schatten photos: Natasha Razina Semiramide photos: Annemie Augustijns

Photos: Annemie Augustijns

Semiramide

By GiOACHinO ROSSini LIBReTTO By GAETAnO ROSSi

Vlaamse Opera Alberto Zedda Conductor

‘Pure Bliss’ Opera Now

In a world of politics, lust, violence and murder, Queen Semiramide rules over Babylon – a broken society where the desires of the elite are destroyed by their own corruption.

‘You can’t play Rossini much better than this’ De Morgen

Having murdered her husband, Semiramide seized power with her lover. Meanwhile the son she thought was dead returns to court as a young soldier. As Semiramide falls in love with him, the scene is set for a compelling drama.

In Semiramide, Rossini’s music achieves an epic power that makes this among his most passionate scores. Renowned Rossini interpreter Alberto Zedda conducts Nigel Lowery’s inventive production, set in a failing middle eastern state and laced with contemporary political allusions.

Thursday 25 & Saturday 27 August 6.00pm Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

Supported by

Tickets from £16 eif.co.uk/semiramide 0131 473 2000

2011

Vlaamse Opera Semiramide