Zurich Opera House 1 April 2024 - Messa da Requiem | GoComGo.com

Messa da Requiem

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
All photos (11)
Monday 1 April 2024

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: Modern Ballet
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 20:00
Overview

The great Verdi expert Marco Armiliato appears at the podium of the Philharmonia Zürich, and joining him is a world-class cast of singers: Krassimira Stoyanova, Agnieszka Rehlis, Stephen Costello, and Georg Zeppenfeld.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem is one of the most popular pieces in the concert repertoire. In a sensational co-production between the Oper and Ballett Zürich, Christian Spuck stages the oratorio for four vocal soloists, large choir, and orchestra as a combination of dance, abstract scenes, space, and light. Since its premiere, the production has traveled the world, appearing in 2023 in Amsterdam, Berlin, Adelaide, Helsinki, and Toronto.

Although he was no devotee of the Catholic church, Verdi set the Latin text of the Catholic funeral service to music in his requiem mass, which was premiered in 1874. His Requiem does not focus on ecclesiastical, religious messages, but rather on the last questions of universal human existence. Accordingly, Christian Spuck doesn’t present horror scenarios from the Last Judgement (which are mentioned in the Latin liturgy), choosing instead an abstract visualization of the music. His production examines a human being in the face of death and sensitively explores the notion of where we come from and where we are going – expressing everything from the terrifying proximity of death to isolation, from a sense of solidarity and community to the mourning process. By gently directing their movements, Christian Spuck links the quartet of solo vocalists with the dancers of the Ballett Zürich, who act out the enormous dramatic range of Verdi’s music, which extends from the solo dance of terror-filled Dies Irae to the intimate pas de deux of the Agnus Dei.

Coproduction of the Opera Zurich and Ballett Zürich

History

The Messa da Requiem is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist whom Verdi admired. The first performance, at the San Marco church in Milan on 22 May 1874, marked the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. The work was at one time called the Manzoni Requiem. It is rarely performed in liturgy, but rather in concert form of around 85–90 minutes in length. Musicologist David Rosen calls it 'probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed since the compilation of Mozart's Requiem'.

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: Modern Ballet
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 20:00
Top of page