Classical concerts featuring

Omer Meir Wellber

IM.PRO.LOG

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Festakt anlässlich der Eröffnung der Leipziger Buchmesse 2025 mit

Gewandhausorchester, Omer Meir Wellber Dirigent/Klavier

Omer Meir Wellber is a dynamic conductor, musician, and composer who enjoys experimenting and avoids the ordinary. This concert features Glasunov's "The Seasons" ballet cycle, Mahler's Piano Quartet Scherzo (arranged by Schnittke), and Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" in a wind arrangement. The performance blends music and dance, highlighting the cyclical nature of the seasons and culminating in a celestial apotheosis.

Gewandhausorchester, Omer Meir Wellber Dirigent/Klavier

Omer Meir Wellber is a dynamic conductor, musician, and composer who enjoys experimenting and avoids the ordinary. This concert features Glasunov's "The Seasons" ballet cycle, Mahler's Piano Quartet Scherzo (arranged by Schnittke), and Tchaikovsky's "The Seasons" in a wind arrangement. The performance blends music and dance, highlighting the cyclical nature of the seasons and culminating in a celestial apotheosis.

Familienkonzert

Think classical concerts are just for grandparents? Think again! Join our moderated concerts for all ages. Malte Arkona guides you through the program with wit, exploring fascinating works with the audience and artists. Discover something new with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Choirs, suitable for ages six and up. Arrive an hour early to meet the musicians, try instruments, and get creative at the Instrument Street.

KaiserRequiem

Grating death, parodied death, omnipotent death, death staved off by art: this program invites us to a veritable musical “thanatography”, in which Ullmann's score, rescued from the Nazi terror, is interwoven with Mozart's timeless masterpiece.

KaiserRequiem

Grating death, parodied death, omnipotent death, death staved off by art: this program invites us to a veritable musical “thanatography”, in which Ullmann's score, rescued from the Nazi terror, is interwoven with Mozart's timeless masterpiece.

IM.PRO.LOG

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Salome

Under the face of the wandering moon, spirit and body quarrel in all their greatness and wretchedness until the blood of two bodies flows. Strauss remains close to Wilde's re-creation of the biblical material, which leads Salome from her mother's tool to autonomy. It is she who, in her unfulfilled desire for the liberatingly different, the body of the prophet Jochanaan, seeks revenge and demands his head - a price the male-dominated society around Herod is willing to pay for their dance. Now that Salome holds his severed head in her hands, she can kiss Jochanaan, possess him if not alive, then dead. As if under a burning glass, Strauss pours Oscar Wilde's demonic dramaturgy into sound like an eruption of the psyche, accompanying his protagonist from her failed escape from the decadence of her existence to her death. Production: Dmitri Tcherniakov Costumes: Elena Zaytseva Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky Dramaturgy: Tatiana Verestchagina, Janina Zell

Salome

Under the face of the wandering moon, spirit and body quarrel in all their greatness and wretchedness until the blood of two bodies flows. Strauss remains close to Wilde's re-creation of the biblical material, which leads Salome from her mother's tool to autonomy. It is she who, in her unfulfilled desire for the liberatingly different, the body of the prophet Jochanaan, seeks revenge and demands his head - a price the male-dominated society around Herod is willing to pay for their dance. Now that Salome holds his severed head in her hands, she can kiss Jochanaan, possess him if not alive, then dead. As if under a burning glass, Strauss pours Oscar Wilde's demonic dramaturgy into sound like an eruption of the psyche, accompanying his protagonist from her failed escape from the decadence of her existence to her death. Production: Dmitri Tcherniakov Costumes: Elena Zaytseva Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky Dramaturgy: Tatiana Verestchagina, Janina Zell

1. Blaues Konzert

Under the direction of Omer Meir Wellber, the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra is adding a colorful accent to the season: THE BLUE WEEK. The new festival replaces the former Academy Concerts and combines unique works and programs on the one hand and showcases the special qualities of our orchestra musicians on the other. In the first edition, they make metamorphoses of all kinds audible - for example, in the first festival concert with Boulez's groundbreaking and enigmatic work Le Marteau sans maître, the instruments mutate into singing voices, while the singer repeatedly takes on a sound role without text. In a labyrinthine way, the work itself unfolds all its characteristics from a single small cell, as if from the sequence of our genetic information, from which first an embryo and then everything else emerges, without anyone arbitrarily intervening from outside. Sans maître - without a master - which means that although the composer has devised the laws of this act of creation, at a certain point the work generates itself like a living creative being, an autonomous morphogenesis. “There is no doubt that Le Marteau sans maître is not only one of the young Frenchman's most remarkable works, it also embodies a very specific ideal of form and sound that is typical of a part of today's avant-garde. It is the ideal of a feminine sensuality dipped in vibrato jelly, a feline hyper-refinement in which the velvety paws of the alto flute caress a deep female voice, which is, however, far more frequently scratched by the spread claws of xylorimba, maracas and claves. The sadistic aspect manifests itself with a strange level-headedness, as if clad in silk gloves: the corpses are hardly mauled, but dissected with very systematic and gentle cuts - a voluptuous exercise in aestheticizing cruelty, carried out by a truly aristocratic torturer with tweezers instead of a cleaver. René Char's melancholic-sadistic-surrealistic texts are sucked by the music into a labyrinth of high-pitched lamentations, into an ever more finely branching tracery of delicate sounds that only bites gently.” György Ligeti (1959)

Salome

Under the face of the wandering moon, spirit and body quarrel in all their greatness and wretchedness until the blood of two bodies flows. Strauss remains close to Wilde's re-creation of the biblical material, which leads Salome from her mother's tool to autonomy. It is she who, in her unfulfilled desire for the liberatingly different, the body of the prophet Jochanaan, seeks revenge and demands his head - a price the male-dominated society around Herod is willing to pay for their dance. Now that Salome holds his severed head in her hands, she can kiss Jochanaan, possess him if not alive, then dead. As if under a burning glass, Strauss pours Oscar Wilde's demonic dramaturgy into sound like an eruption of the psyche, accompanying his protagonist from her failed escape from the decadence of her existence to her death. Production: Dmitri Tcherniakov Costumes: Elena Zaytseva Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky Dramaturgy: Tatiana Verestchagina, Janina Zell

Così fan tutte

Seeking to test their girlfriends’ fidelity, two men wager that they will remain steadfast. They subject the women to passionate onslaught, and in the end, the fortress of their faithfulness falls. The men, however, involved as they are in the experiment, failed to reckon that they too might betray their partners and feelings. All this cheating, confusing, lying – to others and oneself – is grotesquely comical and simultaneously cruel. One side is inclined not to think about the new situation (Guglielmo and Dorabella), while the others try to comprehend it to the point of exhaustion (Fiordiligi and Ferrando). The final ceremony seeks to cement the social status quo, bringing this new freedom to its knees. The marriage, however, is only for show, and beneath the surface of tradition, the first cracks appear. Director: Herbert Fritsch Costume Designer: Victoria Behr Lighting Designer: Carsten Sander Dramaturgy: Johannes Blum Premiere: September 8th, 2018

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Salome

Under the face of the wandering moon, spirit and body quarrel in all their greatness and wretchedness until the blood of two bodies flows. Strauss remains close to Wilde's re-creation of the biblical material, which leads Salome from her mother's tool to autonomy. It is she who, in her unfulfilled desire for the liberatingly different, the body of the prophet Jochanaan, seeks revenge and demands his head - a price the male-dominated society around Herod is willing to pay for their dance. Now that Salome holds his severed head in her hands, she can kiss Jochanaan, possess him if not alive, then dead. As if under a burning glass, Strauss pours Oscar Wilde's demonic dramaturgy into sound like an eruption of the psyche, accompanying his protagonist from her failed escape from the decadence of her existence to her death. Production: Dmitri Tcherniakov Costumes: Elena Zaytseva Lighting: Gleb Filshtinsky Dramaturgy: Tatiana Verestchagina, Janina Zell

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

Così fan tutte

Seeking to test their girlfriends’ fidelity, two men wager that they will remain steadfast. They subject the women to passionate onslaught, and in the end, the fortress of their faithfulness falls. The men, however, involved as they are in the experiment, failed to reckon that they too might betray their partners and feelings. All this cheating, confusing, lying – to others and oneself – is grotesquely comical and simultaneously cruel. One side is inclined not to think about the new situation (Guglielmo and Dorabella), while the others try to comprehend it to the point of exhaustion (Fiordiligi and Ferrando). The final ceremony seeks to cement the social status quo, bringing this new freedom to its knees. The marriage, however, is only for show, and beneath the surface of tradition, the first cracks appear. Director: Herbert Fritsch Costume Designer: Victoria Behr Lighting Designer: Carsten Sander Dramaturgy: Johannes Blum Premiere: September 8th, 2018

Das Paradies und die Peri

“WELCOME TO US! GREET US!” - HOW ART AND WE OURSELVES COULD FIND A ROLE IN OUR CRISIS-RIDDEN WORLD The Peri - an angelic mythical creature. Fallen from paradise and thrown into the world, she is denied a return to heaven. It takes three attempts before the gates open for her again: It takes more than the drop of blood of a young man, martyred in war, and the last sigh of a girl who died because she did not want to leave her lover, who was sick with the plague, alone. Only the last gift, the tear of an old man who bitterly regrets his own life's sins at the sight of a child, will enable Peri to enter the kingdom of heaven. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on the oriental epic poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Hamburg, the Persian myth narrative becomes a panopticon of the very recent past. The narrative thread of our present day strings together global crises like pearls on a necklace: pandemic, war, climate change. The world is under threat. Art, which often tells of moments of redemption, cannot save us, but it does bring with it the possibility of insight. And empathy. Paradise and the Peri opens the artistic direction of Tobias Kratzer, who welcomes the Hamburg audience with this great choral work: “Welcome to us!” The evening is not an opera, but it reflects what musical theater can be. And where it reaches its limits. Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Felix Hornbachner (17.10.) Production: Tobias Kratzer Stage and costumes: Rainer Sellmaier Video: Manuel Braun Lighting: Michael Bauer Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Christopher Warmuth Secular oratorio in three parts (1843) Libretto: Emil Flechsig, after the poem Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

L'elisir d'amore

Tristano e Isotta – Tristan and Isolde set an example: Nemorino has the evident idea to boost the feelings of his beloved Adina with a love potion. The charlatan Dulcamara sees his chance for a good deal and sells a bottle of the pretended potion to the unhappy lover. And very soon Nemorino does become unusually popular with the young women in town. Will he be able to sweet-talk Adina as well? Or will she decide in favor of Nemorino’s rival Belcore? Ever since the audience has tasted Gaetano Donizetti‘s “Liebestrank” at the world premiere at Milan in 1832 for the first time, the piece is an indispensable part of the repertoire of opera stages around the world. In the short – and even for him - probably record time of several weeks, Donizetti succeeded in creating a milestone of comic opera. Despite its happy character the music allows deep insight into the protagonists’ inner life. Thus Donizetti created the most famous aria of this opera for Nemorino, who sees his chance to impress Adina, as a showpiece for tenors: “Una furtiva lagrima” is not a cheerful song but a melancholy romance. Production and stage design by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Costumes: Pet Halmen Premiere: 18.06.1977

L'elisir d'amore

Tristano e Isotta – Tristan and Isolde set an example: Nemorino has the evident idea to boost the feelings of his beloved Adina with a love potion. The charlatan Dulcamara sees his chance for a good deal and sells a bottle of the pretended potion to the unhappy lover. And very soon Nemorino does become unusually popular with the young women in town. Will he be able to sweet-talk Adina as well? Or will she decide in favor of Nemorino’s rival Belcore? Ever since the audience has tasted Gaetano Donizetti‘s “Liebestrank” at the world premiere at Milan in 1832 for the first time, the piece is an indispensable part of the repertoire of opera stages around the world. In the short – and even for him - probably record time of several weeks, Donizetti succeeded in creating a milestone of comic opera. Despite its happy character the music allows deep insight into the protagonists’ inner life. Thus Donizetti created the most famous aria of this opera for Nemorino, who sees his chance to impress Adina, as a showpiece for tenors: “Una furtiva lagrima” is not a cheerful song but a melancholy romance. Production and stage design by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Costumes: Pet Halmen Premiere: 18.06.1977

L'elisir d'amore

Tristano e Isotta – Tristan and Isolde set an example: Nemorino has the evident idea to boost the feelings of his beloved Adina with a love potion. The charlatan Dulcamara sees his chance for a good deal and sells a bottle of the pretended potion to the unhappy lover. And very soon Nemorino does become unusually popular with the young women in town. Will he be able to sweet-talk Adina as well? Or will she decide in favor of Nemorino’s rival Belcore? Ever since the audience has tasted Gaetano Donizetti‘s “Liebestrank” at the world premiere at Milan in 1832 for the first time, the piece is an indispensable part of the repertoire of opera stages around the world. In the short – and even for him - probably record time of several weeks, Donizetti succeeded in creating a milestone of comic opera. Despite its happy character the music allows deep insight into the protagonists’ inner life. Thus Donizetti created the most famous aria of this opera for Nemorino, who sees his chance to impress Adina, as a showpiece for tenors: “Una furtiva lagrima” is not a cheerful song but a melancholy romance. Production and stage design by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Costumes: Pet Halmen Premiere: 18.06.1977

L'elisir d'amore

Tristano e Isotta – Tristan and Isolde set an example: Nemorino has the evident idea to boost the feelings of his beloved Adina with a love potion. The charlatan Dulcamara sees his chance for a good deal and sells a bottle of the pretended potion to the unhappy lover. And very soon Nemorino does become unusually popular with the young women in town. Will he be able to sweet-talk Adina as well? Or will she decide in favor of Nemorino’s rival Belcore? Ever since the audience has tasted Gaetano Donizetti‘s “Liebestrank” at the world premiere at Milan in 1832 for the first time, the piece is an indispensable part of the repertoire of opera stages around the world. In the short – and even for him - probably record time of several weeks, Donizetti succeeded in creating a milestone of comic opera. Despite its happy character the music allows deep insight into the protagonists’ inner life. Thus Donizetti created the most famous aria of this opera for Nemorino, who sees his chance to impress Adina, as a showpiece for tenors: “Una furtiva lagrima” is not a cheerful song but a melancholy romance. Production and stage design by: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle Costumes: Pet Halmen Premiere: 18.06.1977

La Traviata

Violetta is the most sought-after courtesan of the Parisian demimonde. However, her encounter with Alfredo makes her pleasure-seeking life seem questionable: they fall in love and try to build a life for themselves, far from the fast pleasures of the city. Her past, however, catches up with Violetta. Alfredo’s father persuades her that a separation is the only way to restore his family honour. Alfredo, unaware of the true reasons for her decision, insults Violetta in public. When they are finally reunited, Violetta has run out of time. Giuseppe Verdi was on the lookout for such a provocative, innovative tale when he encountered the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the Younger. In the spring of 1852 he saw the “Lady of the Camellias” as a play adapted by the writer himself at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris. The impression this made on him strengthened his resolve to use the tale for his next opera; the story gave him an opportunity to reformulate his grand theme: love defeated by the resistance of society. Director: Johannes Erath Stage Designer: Annette Kurz Costume Designer: Herbert Murauer Lighting Designer: Olaf Freese Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers Premiere: 17.02.2013

Peter und der Wolf von St. Pauli

The wild 80s on Hamburg's Kiez: the sex business is in full swing, the power struggles in the red light district are escalating and in the midst of it all, a hitman with white leather gloves is terrifying the whole scene: Werner “Mucki” Pinzner. Pinzner killed at least five pimps, including Lackschuh-Dieter and Corvette-Rolf, on behalf of neighborhood bigwig and pimp “Wiener Peter”. The series of murders ended with Pinzner's staged suicide at police headquarters - after the Kiez killer also shot his wife Jutta and public prosecutor Wolfgang Bistry. With Peter and the Wolf of St. Pauli, the Philharmonic State Orchestra and Schmidts Tivoli are jointly bringing one of the most spectacular criminal cases in the history of the Hanseatic city to the stage: General Music Director Omer Meir Wellber, journalist Axel Brüggemann and Martin Lingnau, composer and artistic director at Schmidt, reopen the case using original documents, witness statements, images and films, transforming it into a musical stage thriller set to Prokofiev's world-famous music. Peter and the Wolf of St. Pauli tells the adventurous story of the rise of a criminal in the changing, increasingly tough neighborhood, but also of the self-sacrificing, perhaps already sick love of his wife, who ultimately goes to her death with him, of a lawyer who smuggles a gun into the police headquarters for the murderer and of the naive and completely overtaxed police. Prokofiev's classic meets St. Pauli - you've never heard the Kiez like this before. His music lends emotional and surprising perspectives to this historical criminal case. What a start to our cooperation with the Schmidt Theatres! A cooperation between the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and Schmidts Tivoli GmbH

Peter und der Wolf von St. Pauli

The wild 80s on Hamburg's Kiez: the sex business is in full swing, the power struggles in the red light district are escalating and in the midst of it all, a hitman with white leather gloves is terrifying the whole scene: Werner “Mucki” Pinzner. Pinzner killed at least five pimps, including Lackschuh-Dieter and Corvette-Rolf, on behalf of neighborhood bigwig and pimp “Wiener Peter”. The series of murders ended with Pinzner's staged suicide at police headquarters - after the Kiez killer also shot his wife Jutta and public prosecutor Wolfgang Bistry. With Peter and the Wolf of St. Pauli, the Philharmonic State Orchestra and Schmidts Tivoli are jointly bringing one of the most spectacular criminal cases in the history of the Hanseatic city to the stage: General Music Director Omer Meir Wellber, journalist Axel Brüggemann and Martin Lingnau, composer and artistic director at Schmidt, reopen the case using original documents, witness statements, images and films, transforming it into a musical stage thriller set to Prokofiev's world-famous music. Peter and the Wolf of St. Pauli tells the adventurous story of the rise of a criminal in the changing, increasingly tough neighborhood, but also of the self-sacrificing, perhaps already sick love of his wife, who ultimately goes to her death with him, of a lawyer who smuggles a gun into the police headquarters for the murderer and of the naive and completely overtaxed police. Prokofiev's classic meets St. Pauli - you've never heard the Kiez like this before. His music lends emotional and surprising perspectives to this historical criminal case. What a start to our cooperation with the Schmidt Theatres! A cooperation between the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and Schmidts Tivoli GmbH

The great silence

IN FARAWAY PLACES - REDISCOVERING MOZART'S MUSIC Culture is meaningful. Culture not only keeps us busy - and thus structures our everyday lives - it seems to give us existential stability above all. Making music, together or alone, is one of the oldest and most deeply rooted rituals in our collective identity. Music still serves as a human compass today. Nevertheless, it does no harm to put ritualized processes to the test: In the music theater project The Great Silence, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes existentially relevant for a group of people living in the future and far away from the earth. For them, unknown works by one of the most famous composers become both a daily reminder and a warning of what it means to be and remain human. Director Christopher Rüping, who is highly regarded and celebrated at home and abroad for his acting work and has been awarded the most important theater prizes, and his team make their long-awaited debut on the main stage of the Hamburg State Opera. They explore the question of what role and function such a timeless cultural asset as Mozart's music has for us and, in this music theater project, create the scenario of a remote world whose setting has little to do with our present-day reality. But man is the constant that has hardly changed fundamentally. What does Mozart's music trigger in us? How do people react to unexpected threats, how do they react to a real opportunity? And what happens when things go quiet after all? Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber, Tohar Gil (26.3., 2.4.) Production: Christopher Rüping Stage: Jonathan Mertz Costumes: Lene Schwind Sound design: Jonas Holle Lighting: Benedikt Zehm Choir: Alice Meregaglia Dramaturgy: Malte Ubenauf, Christopher Warmuth Music theater project by Christopher Rüping, Omer Meir Wellber and Malte Ubenauf with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (2026)