Peter Hoare

Raised by a scheming dwarf and unaware of his true family origins, a young man embarks on an epic journey.

Captured live from Naples’ splendid San Carlo Theatre – the world’s oldest continuously running public opera venue – where it opened the company’s theatrical season, acclaimed director Dmitri Tcherniakov stages a new production of Dvořák’s beautiful, supremely romantic opera about a water sprite Rusalka who longs to find love.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts Arnold Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder for the 75th anniversary of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra at Munich's Isar Philharmonic.

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Director and visual artist Romeo Castellucci will tackle this mythological material and project his visions over the course of the journey performed by the characters, representing concretely such key elements of the Ring as water and fire. This symbolic reading will concentrate on essential aspects of the libretto, inviting spectators to forge their own interpretation. Avoiding irony, Castellucci will treat each protagonist with equal importance, highlighting the aspirations, emotions and thoughts that animate them: absolute love and the conquest of power.

Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd will be performed in Norway for the very first time! This is an opera set in a hard masculine environment, about repressed passions and the weight of guilt - but also about rebellion, the power of beauty and about release. Director of Opera Annilese Miskimmon herself directs this masterpiece, featuring an exclusively male cast. Director Annilese Miskimmon and Set and Costume designer Annemarie Woods, take us onto a submarine during the Vichy regime in 1940s France. Here we meet a close and claustrophobic environment, controlled by sailors’ discipline and the meaningless necessity of war.

Posthumously premiered in 1930, From the House of the Dead derives from Dostoevsky’s autobiographical 1862 novel that drew on his experience as a political prisoner in Siberia. Janáček focuses on Dostoevsky’s idea of the “spark of God” in every human being that has the potential to redeem even the most hardened criminal.

Opera based on the story of Edward II and Piers Gaveston. Music by George Benjamin, libretto by Martin Crimp. BBC broadcast of the 2018 premiere at the Royal Opera House, the composer conducting, prefaced by commentary and interviews.

Sir Simon Rattle, the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Rundfunkchor Berlin give an impeccable performance of the powerful biblical oratorio “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” by John Adams, one of the most renowned contemporary composers. The sophisticated score with a libretto by acclaimed theatre director Peter Sellars comes to life thanks to the Berliner Philharmoniker, whose intimate knowledge of Adams’s music stems from the composer himself: He attended the orchestra’s rehearsals. In the role of the Evangelist, Bubeck, Cummings and Medley lead through the narrative. A stunning highlight is Lazarus’s aria, sung by tenor Peter Hoare. But at the heart of the piece are Mary Magdalene and her sister Martha during the last days before Jesus’s death, impressively performed by mezzo-sopranos Kelley O’Connor and Tamara Mumford.

Lucia’s brother Enrico is horrified to learn she has fallen in love with his sworn enemy Edgardo. He hastily arranges her marriage to his associate Arturo. Edgardo and Lucia privately exchange rings before he leaves to fight in France. Enrico tricks Lucia into believing that Edgardo has been unfaithful. Longing for death, she signs the contract with Arturo – moments before Edgardo returns. Lucia murders Arturo in their wedding bed. His death is followed first by Lucia’s, and then by Edgardo’s.