Semperoper Dresden announces twelve new productions

The Saxon State Opera Dresden is starting the new season with twelve new productions - eight in the opera division and four in the ballet division. In addition, 29 revivals of pieces will enrich the Semperoper's repertoire and whet the appetite for a visit to the temple of music.

"We tell of the lightness and heaviness of being, of birth and death, of love and hate, of childhood and old age, of the search for one's own identity and also of the longing for redemption," said Artistic Director Nora Schmid, outlining the program.

New production of "Parsifal" sets Wagner fans' pulses racing

Daniele Gatti will open the premiere series in October with his first opera conducting role as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle in Saxony - Giuseppe Verdi's "Falstaff". Fans of Richard Wagner are likely to get their pulses racing in March 2026 when Gatti conducts the premiere of "Parsifal" and can rely on a top-class ensemble of singers. In December, the opera "The Snow Queen" by Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen, based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the Snow Queen, will be released. The role of the Snow Queen was composed for a bass voice and will be performed by Georg Zeppenfeld.

Opera classics such as "Carmen" by Georges Bizet and modern opera literature are also among the premieres. To mark the Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony 2026, the Semperoper will be showing Hans Karl Breslauer's 1924 silent film "Die Stadt ohne Juden" for the first time. The film was long considered lost. Composer Olga Neuwirth created the music for it. Graz Opera's production of "The Florentine Hat" by Nino Rota will be shown. The ballet is represented with "Onegin" by John Cranko, among others.

At 93.2 percent capacity in 2024

The Semperoper plans to give a total of 292 performances in the new season. According to Artistic Director Schmid, last year's occupancy rate was 93.2 percent, exceeding the figures from before the coronavirus pandemic. In January and February of this year, capacity utilization even rose to around 99%. The diverse program is an offer to all people "to discover something for themselves individually that appeals to the imagination, the heart and the mind", said Schmid.