Dates

5-29 Jun 2024

Location

Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Main Stage

Running time

TBA

Tickets

From € 30

Fidelio

Love, revolution and liberty

Liberation opera, revolutionary artwork, an ode to fidelity in love and utopian drama – Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera, is all of these things. The numerous characterisations and interpretations add an aura of mystery to the opera but demonstrate above all that it is a unique work of musical  theatre that expresses the hope for a humane future with justice and liberty for all.

Photo: Marta Syrko

Love, revolution and liberty

‘Fidelio’ is Leonore. Disguised as a man, she adopts a new name and embarks on a mission to free her lover Florestan from the depths of Pizzaro’s dark dungeons. His tyrannical violence, abuse of power and barbaric behaviour make him one of the most despicable characters in opera history. Indeed, Fidelio’s struggle is a fight to the death. But love brings hope against this backdrop of a corrupt world.

Inspired by a true story from the time of the French Revolution, Beethoven wrote a masterpiece whose characters rise above the banal. The symphonic, almost religious nature of his music adds depth to a story in which powerful emotions and big ideas meet.

 

Imagery replete with symbols

The stage direction is in the hands of the Ukrainian director Andriy Zholdak. His visual imagery, replete with symbols, is reminiscent of great film directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingmar Bergman. Using a distinctive style, Zholdak explores the deeper layers of the universal human drama of Fidelio.

Led by the renowned Colombian-Austrian conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will certainly present a gripping reading of Beethoven’s only opera. The dramatically and vocally versatile role of Leonore is performed by the radiant soprano Jacquelyn Wagner. In the role of her lover, the revolutionary Florestan, we hear the internationally acclaimed heldentenor Eric Cutler.

Start of ticket sales

General ticket sales for Fidelio start on 24 August 2023 at 12.00 midday. Want to make sure you don’t miss this moment? Then sign up for the ticket alert, and we’ll send you a reminder as soon as ticket sales begin.

Performance information

Opera in two acts
Sung in German

Libretto  Joseph Sonnleithner

Musical direction  Andrés Orozco Estrada
Stage direction, set en lighting design  Andriy Zholdak
Dramaturgy  Luc Joosten 

Don Fernando  Frederik Bergman
Florestan  Eric Cutler
Rocco  TBA
Don Pizarro  Nicholas Brownlee
Leonore  Jacquelyn Wagner
Marzelline  Anna El-Khashem
Jaquino  Linard Vrielink

Chorus of Dutch National Opera
Chorus master  Edward Ananian-Cooper

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Coproduction with Grand Théâtre de  Genève
Part of the Holland Festival

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra performs Beethoven’s masterpiece

Order tickets

General ticket sales start on 24 August 2023 at 12.00 midday.

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Andriy Zholdak
Photo: Vladimir Lupovskoy

Director Andriy Zholdak on Beethoven and Fidelio

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is one of the world’s top orchestras. Since it was founded in 1888, it has worked with leading conductors and soloists. Klaus Mäkelä is the orchestra’s artistic partner and will become its chief conductor in 2027. The orchestra plays around eighty concerts a year in the Concertgebouw and forty in other prestigious venues. It also reaches music lovers around the world with its videos, streaming, radio and TV broadcasts, CDs and DVDs.

Photo: Simon van Boxtel

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Academy of the Concertgebouw Orchestra trains talented young musicians, while accomplished musicians aged 14 to 17 from all over Europe come together in Concertgebouworkest Young. The orchestra has a long tradition of collaboration with Dutch National Opera and can be heard this season in the new production The Shell Trial and in Fidelio

Powerful emotions and big ideas meet in this symphonic, almost religious, music 

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