General sponsor The Theater an der Wien receives subsidies from the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna * HE WHO DARES MUCH HAS MUCH TO GAIN! When the Theater an der Wien opened in 1801, Emanuel Schikaneder generations, and the complexity of the characters who include gods, de- called it a “playhouse”. Only at first sight does this description seem migods and humans ensured a never-ending stream of interpretations – contradictory. In Italy, the motherland of opera, the term teatro describes especially of Wagner’s tenet that the desire for material power should ne- both dramatic (spoken) theatre and musical theatre in equal measure. By ver be rewarded and that creative forces are stronger than material greed. using this word, Schikaneder deliberately emphasised that, in contrast to the existing courtly tradition, he intended to provide the “new German Director Tatjana Gürbaca, dramaturge Bettina Auer and conductor Con- musical theatre” with a powerful platform too. stantin Trinks are putting together a special version of the Ring for the Theater an der Wien to be performed over three evenings. It will focus on Accordingly, we are making three absolute milestones of “German-lan- the background and motivation of three of the characters and will itself guage opera” of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries the form a cohesive trilogy. This new Ring-Trilogie at the Theater an der Wien first highlight of the coming season: Die Zauberflöte, Der Ring des Nibe- tells the story from the perspective of Hagen the murderer on the first lungen and Wozzeck. We begin our journey through the “world of opera evening, from that of Siegfried the victim on the second, and ends on the 2017/18” with a new production of Die Zauberflöte, Mozart’s artistic and third evening with the standpoint of Brünnhilde who, out of jealousy, financial legacy at the birth of the Theater an der Wien. René Jacobs persuades Hagen to murder Siegfried. The music will come exclusively and Torsten Fischer – the team behind last year’s successful production from Wagner’s tetralogy – albeit in a new sequence, of course, and cut of Falstaff by Mozart’s friend and rival Salieri – will stage the most bril- down to three times three hours. This narrative form is entirely in keeping liant German-language opera of the eighteenth century as the season’s with Wagner’s intention, since his original starting point for the Ring was curtain-raiser. the end, and he only wanted to tell the story of Siegfried’s death. In May 1914, Alban Berg saw Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck at the Wiener The second major focus of the 17/18 season is once again on those who Kammerspiele and immediately determined to set the play to music. The have been centrepieces of our programme for many years: George Frideric drama tells the story of the soldier Johann Christian Woyzeck who was Handel, Benjamin Britten and the Hamburg Ballett: executed in Leipzig in 1824 for murder motivated by jealousy. A social drama about members of the lowest class of society was a novelty in Handel had a particular passion for Italian opera, which he successfully Büchner’s day. Giving a soldier who becomes a murderer a voice on the established in London from 1711 onwards. Just how much weight Handel operatic stage brought about the change to opera as a genre that au- placed on narrative elements as a composer of oratorios was demons- diences had evidently been waiting for: the premiere of the radically mo- trated by director Claus Guth in 2009 with his successful stage adaptati- dern Wozzeck in 1925 made Alban Berg world famous overnight. Berg’s on of Messiah. Three years before his best-known oratorio, Handel wrote Wozzeck is a tour de force for any baritone. Under the direction of Robert the oratorio Saul, also with Charles Jennens as librettist, which is based on Carsen and with Leo Hussain conducting, Florian Boesch will undoubted- the biblical story of the first king of Israel and his successor, David. Claus ly put his own particular slant on the tortured and raving eponymous Guth will again direct. The Handel specialist Laurence Cummings makes hero. his debut on the Theater an der Wien rostrum. Since its premiere in 1876, Richard Wagner’s epoch-making opera cycle We crown our intensive exploration of Benjamin Britten’s oeuvre with a Der Ring des Nibelungen has inspired countless directors and conductors marvellous twentieth-century work. Following Henry Purcell’s Fairy Queen to interpretations that have sometimes been outlandish. The intricate plot, from last year, we turn this year to Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s the lengthy period covered by the story that stretches over at least three Dream based on Shakespeare’s comedy of the same name. * from Die Zauberflöte, Papageno, Act One, Finale 2 | | 3 With this, our fifth new stage production of a Britten opera, we not only In addition, we have ten concert performances of operas, the Beethoven forge a link between two major works connected to Shakespeare, but al- Cycle with Leonore (1805) under René Jacobs, Fidelio (1814) under Gio- so pay homage to the composer who, three centuries after Henry Purcell, vanni Antonini and a half-staged Egmont being a particular highlight. the Orpheus Britannicus, revived British opera. The successful team be- hind our production of Rossini’s Otello (2016), Antonello Manacorda Great importance is also attached to the continued expansion of the and Damiano Michieletto, are pairing up again to guarantee enthralling Kammeroper as a centre for the next generation of artists, especially musical theatre of the highest quality. the Junges Ensemble des Theater an der Wien (JET) which will be pre- senting four new opera productions ranging from the baroque (Porpora / The subject of another Rossini opera, Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, will Ariadne) to Mozart (Così), bel canto (Donizetti / Don Pasquale) and the mo- be taken further: The life of the multifaceted Queen Elizabeth I has been dern (Debussy / Pelléas et Mélisande). And we must not forget our Jugend set several times by Italian composers. After Gioachino Rossini comes an der Wien who will follow in the footsteps of A Midsummer Night’s Gaetano Donizetti, who took the tragedy by Friedrich Schiller as the ba- Dream, while our youngest visitors will have the job of “freeing Eurydice”. sis and inspiration of his Maria Stuarda. Donizetti’s masterpiece of bel canto describes the last three days in the life of the Scottish queen Mary For Schopenhauer, the theatre is a mirror of life. He saw the Die Zauber- Stuart and her confrontation with Elizabeth I. Marlis Petersen takes on the flöte as a hieroglyph which is open to many interpretations and which he tragic title role. As on our successful production of La Straniera (2015), compared to a search that precludes any preconceived truths and dog- Christof Loy and Paolo Arrivabeni form the leading team. mas: “However, in life we are as the wanderer before whom, as he strides onwards, objects take on another form from that which they had from We are also continuing our collaboration with John Neumeier and his afar and appear to transform themselves as he approaches.” We have de- famed Hamburg Ballett in 2017/18. Anton Chekhov announced his new signed the images in this season’s brochure and on our postersin accor- drama, Die Möwe, as a comedy, thereby presenting every director and dance with this principle. Emmanuel Polanco has created collages for each performer with a puzzle since the play ends with the suicide of the main of the premieres that zoom in from the overview to the relevant detail, character. John Neumeier has translated Chekhov’s emotions into the thereby representing the inquisitive entry into our opera house. idiom of dance, inspired by the tensions that exist in the relationship between love and art and by the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Join us on this path. We promise you fascinating moments and hours of enjoyment at the Theater an der Wien and in our Kammeroper. Last but not least, a highlight in the spring of 2018 centres on one of the most important Austrian composers of the twentieth century: on 24 Best wishes, January 1918, Gottfried von Einem was born in Bern as the son of an Austrian family of diplomats. Although his operas held a place of parti- cular significance in his oeuvre, they are rarely performed today. To mark the composer’s hundredth birthday we are therefore presenting his set- ting of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Der Besuch der alten Dame. With this work, von Einem created a fascinating operatic parable concerning the Roland Geyer, Director morality and amorality of an ostensibly humane society which expo- ses greed and corruption as powerful motives for human action. Keith Warner directs this merciless social criticism with Katharina Karneus in the title role and Michael Boder on the rostrum. 4 | | 5 CONTENT MUSICAL THEATRE W. A. Mozart: DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE 8 A. Berg: WOZZECK 12 R. Wagner: DIE RING-TRILOGIE 16 G. Donizetti: MARIA STUARDA 28 G. F. Handel: SAUL 32 G. v. Einem: DER BESUCH DER ALTEN DAME 36 B. Britten: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM 40 J. Neumeier: DIE MÖWE (ballet) 44 CONCERT PERFORMANCES 48 AT THE KAMMEROPER 56 AT THE “HÖLLE” 64 JUGEND AN DER WIEN 68 Guided Tours 72 Information 74 Prices 80 Seating plan 81 Imprint 84 Booking form 85 AGRANA. A FLAIR FOR CULTURE. SUGAR. STARCH. FRUIT. - In these three segments is AGRANA successully active around the world; but cultural life in Austria also has plenty to offer. Our flair for culture is key to our efforts ensuring that this remains the case.