Zurich Opera House tickets 14 June 2025 - Atonement | GoComGo.com

Atonement

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
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7 PM
From
US$ 145

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast
Performers
Ballet company: Ballett Zürich
Conductor: Jonathan Lo
Ballet company: Junior Ballett Zurich
Orchestra: Philharmonia Zürich
Creators
Composer: Laura Rossi
Choreographer: Cathy Marston
Choreographer: Edward Kemp
Novelist: Ian McEwan
Overview

Ballet by Cathy Marston after the novel of the same name by Ian McEwan.

Ian McEwan, born in 1948, is one of the most important voices in contemporary English literature. In his successful 2001 novel Atonement, he tells of a life spent atoning for an early debt. Through a deliberate false statement, Briony Tallis, a pubescent, overzealous writer in 1930s England, puts her older sister’s unfit lover in prison and destroys the lives and loves of two people.

Atonement, or in German, Abbitte, is a word that’s rarely used in either language. At the same time, the humble request for forgiveness is a deeply human act, a testament to great remorse and self-conquest. Although she helps the two lovers in a novel to achieve the happiness that was not granted to them in life, Briony Tallis fails to obtain forgiveness for her grave offense. Her feeling of guilt accompanies her to the end of her life. McEwan’s novel is more than a tragic love story set against a contemporary historical background. Through the terrible consequences of a single lie, it not only exposes the mechanisms of the British class system, but also reflects on the dangerous side of artistic creativity and questions the morality of writing.

In her first new creation for the Ballett Zürich, Cathy Marston and her longtime artistic partner Edward Kemp transfer the action of Atonement to the world of ballet. In their adaptation, Briony Tallis becomes a celebrated choreographer who attempts to come to terms with the fateful transgressions of her youth in her dance pieces. With her large-scale narrative ballet, Cathy Marston reflects on the minor and major self-deceptions that shape our memories, and on the difficulty of dealing with guilt – the guilt of others, but especially our own.
The music for Atonement was commissioned from the renowned English composer Laura Rossi. Jonathan Lo, music director of the Australian Ballet, will conduct the Philharmonia Philharmonia Zürich.

Venue Info

Zurich Opera House - Zurich
Location   Sechseläutenplatz 1

Zürich Opera House is a main opera house in Zürich and Switzerland. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to the Zürich Ballet. The Opera House also holds concerts by its Philharmonia orchestra, matinees, Lieder evenings and events for children. The Zürich Opera Ball is organised every year in March, and is usually attended by prominent names.

The first permanent theatre, the Aktientheater, was built in 1834 and it became the focus of Richard Wagner’s activities during his period of exile from Germany.

The Aktientheater burnt down in 1890. The new Stadttheater Zürich (municipal theatre) was built by the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, who changed their previous design for the theatre in Wiesbaden only slightly. It was opened in 1891. It was the city's main performance space for drama, opera, and musical events until 1925, when it was renamed Opernhaus Zürich and a separate theatre for plays was built: The Bernhard Theater opened in 1941, in May 1981 the Esplanada building was demolished, and the present adjoint building opened on 27/28 December 1984 after three years of transition in the Kaufhaus building nearby Schanzengraben.

By the 1970s, the opera house was badly in need of major renovations; when some considered it not worth restoring, a new theatre was proposed for the site. However, between 1982 and 1984, rebuilding took place but not without huge local opposition which was expressed in street riots. The rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekhov opera Der Kirschgarten.

As restored, the theatre is an ornate building with a neo-classical façade of white and grey stone adorned with busts of Weber, Wagner, and Mozart. Additionally, busts of Schiller, Shakespeare, and Goethe are to be found. The auditorium is built in the neo-rococo style and seats approximately 1200 people. During the refurbishment, the issue of sightlines was not adequately addressed. As a result, the theatre has a high number of seats with a limited view, or no view, of the stage. This is unusual in international comparison, where sightlines in historic opera houses have been typically enhanced over time.

Corporate archives and historical library collections are held at the music department of the Predigerkirche Zürich.

The Zürich Opera House is also home of the International Opera Studio (in German: Internationales Opernstudio IOS) which is a educational program for young singers and pianists. The studio was created in 1961 and has renowned artists currently teaching such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbender, Andreas Homocki, Rosemary Joshua, Adrian Kelly, Fabio Luisi, Jetske Mijnssen, Ann Murray, Eytan Pessen or Edith Wiens.

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
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