Zurich Opera House tickets 28 June 2025 - Les Contes d’Hoffmann | GoComGo.com

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
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Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 5
Intervals: 2
Duration: 3h 30min
Sung in: French
Titles in: German,English
Cast
Performers
Soprano: Adriana Gonzalez (Antonia)
Conductor: Antonino Fogliani
Soprano: Katrina Galka (Olympia)
Mezzo-Soprano: Marina Viotti (Nicklausse)
Mezzo-Soprano: Marina Viotti (The Muse)
Orchestra: Philharmonia Zürich
Tenor: Saimir Pirgu (Hoffmann)
Choir: Zürich Opera Chorus
Creators
Composer: Jacques Offenbach
Director: Andreas Homoki
Author: Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann
Librettist: Jules Barbier
Overview

The premiere of this staging by Andreas Homoki took place online in the spring of 2021, due to coronavirus pandemic; this season the production finally bows on stage before an audience. Saimir Pirgu made a convincing debut in the title role, and he returns as Hoffmann in this revival. As at the premiere, Italian conductor Antonino Fogliani is at the podium of the Philharmonia Zürich.

In his final opera, Jacques Offenbach made E.T.A. Hoffmann, the most famous poet of the Romantic period, into his main character. The poet explores the threshold between reality and fantasy in a fascinating way in his magical-surreal tales. The opera masterfully combines operetta, sentimental opéra comique and romantic-fantastic opera. Original melodic inventions merge with gripping drama and, of course, Offenbach’s subtle irony interrupts his main character’s rapturous states.

Hoffmann, the poet, is torn between art and life, love and fantasy, dream and reality. His love for Stella, the singer, remains unrequited, and he takes refuge in alcohol and the world of his imagination. Over the course of a wine-soaked evening, he tells his friends of three fantastical love affairs. Olympia, the immaculate beauty he fell head over heels in love with – only to discover that the woman he so desperately wanted was a doll. Antonia, who was consumed by feverish song and died in Hoffmann’s arms. And Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan, who swore him undying love and seduced him, all with the singular goal of stealing his reflection. Each time, Hoffmann failed – himself, in love, and against his diabolical adversary.

History
Premiere of this production: 10 February 1881, Opéra-Comique, Paris

Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in October 1880, four months before the premiere.

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: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 5
Intervals: 2
Duration: 3h 30min
Sung in: French
Titles in: German,English
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