Theater an der Wien

The 2016/17 opera season has a focus on Shakespeare – 400 years after his death (1616). It opens in September 2016 with the premiere of the opera Hamlet, composed by Anno Schreier and staged by director Christoph Loy.

This is followed in October by Antonio Salieri's most original opera Falstaff, which was adapted from Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1799. Giuseppe Verdi's sombre tragedy Macbeth brings Plácido Domingo to Theater an der Wien in a number of performances in the lead role, while Ildebrando D'Arcangelo plays Banco (November 2016). Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen from 1692 is based on the world-famous comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream and brings the Shakespeare series to a close in January 2017.

Mozart is also on the program at the Theater an der Wien: Don Giovanni is performed in December. Werner Egk's opera Peer Gynt, written in 1938 based on a dramatic poem by Henrik Ibsen, celebrates its premiere on 17 February 2017.

In 1815, Gioachino Rossini's first opera Elisabetta celebrated a triumphal opening day success. Elisabetta was soon being performed elsewhere in Europe, including to great acclaim at the Theater an der Wien in 1818. And now again in March 2017.

At its guest appearance in April 2017, the Norwegian National Ballet presents the dance performances Gespenster (based on Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts) and Carmen (with the music of Georges Bizet). Hans Werner Henze's opera Elegie für junge Liebende , which premiered in 1961, will be shown in May 2017.

Eight operas by composers such as Händel, Monetverdi and Vivaldi will be performed as concerts, together with stars such as the American mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux. The Young Ensemble of the Theater an der Wien can be experienced in the Kammeroper, the second performance venue of the Theater an der Wien.