Zurich Opera House 16 March 2022 - L'Olimpiade | GoComGo.com

L'Olimpiade

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
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7 PM

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: Opera
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 19:00
Duration: 2h
Sung in: Italian
Titles in: German,English

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).

Overview

This Baroque opera project, which fell victim to the coronavirus lockdown just before its premiere last season, has a rather unusual musical-theatrical approach. It combines arias from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s rarely-heard opera L’Olimpiade with a documentary film by Berlin-based stage director David Marton and Austrian filmmaker Sonja Aufderklamm. The film features Zurich’s elderly residents as its stars. Marton is known for his exploration of innovative theatrical forms, and this production once again breaks new ground. It examines the relationships between sound, moving images, and the stage, between opera and reality, and between-song and human destinies.
Aufderklamm and Marton visited elderly individuals, played Pergolesi’s music for them, and spoke to them about the arias and the themes found therein. The music’s wide range of emotions are combined within their faces, their stories, and their poignant lived experiences. The artistic outcome is a heart-wrenching evening that came about during the coronavirus pandemic when a vibrantly-staged Baroque opera was more of a dream than a self-evident reality. 
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s artistic treatment of arias – which is at the center of this musical-theatrical experiment – is one of the most beautiful and masterful strokes of 18th-century musical production. And in Zurich, internationally celebrated singers the likes of Vivica Genaux and Anna Bonitatibus bring the music of this Neapolitan composer to life. The performance is musically directed by Italian conductor and harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone, who has conducted more Pergolesi operas than anyone else.

History
Premiere of this production: 31 December 1734, Teatro Tordinona, Rome

L'Olimpiade is an opera in the form of a dramma per musica in three acts by the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. It is regarded as "one of the finest opere serie of the early eighteenth century".

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
Duration: 2h
Sung in: Italian
Titles in: German,English
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