World Opera Day
Today we celebrate World Opera Day! This day is dedicated to the special art form and in this year's theme Unboxing Opera, opera houses all over the world open their (virtual) doors for a peek behind the scenes.
Der Freischütz
Dutch National Opera is happy to contribute to this festive day and, to mark the occasion, is presenting an online stream of the opera Der Freischütz. Enjoy this unique production by director Kirill Serebrennikov from the comfort of your own living room!
The new production Der Freischütz, which premiered in June 2022, provides the audience with a musical insight into the wonderful world of opera. In his version, Serebrennikov has done away with the German forest and has instead opted for a rehearsal studio full of artists.
It's an opera about an opera, in which ambition, fear of failure and superstition feature just as prominently. With ‘Unboxing Opera’ being the theme of this World Opera Day, Serebrennikov's opera fits in beautifully: it approaches opera from the inside and introduces you to the art form on a new level!
Photos: Bart Grietens
Der Freischütz: the story
In a rehearsal room, we meet a group of singers who are involved in Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz: an opera about the ambitious young hunter Max, who has to win a shooting competition in order to marry the love of his life – just when his shooting skills seem to have gone downhill. His insecurity leads him to make a pact with the devil.
We see parallels between the characters in Der Freischütz and the singers who play them. They too are plagued by fears – of missing notes, of not making a name in the world of opera or of losing everything they have worked so hard to achieve. Superstition, envy and manipulations run wild as the singers try everything in their power to prove themselves to the one person who – like a god and the devil in one – pulls all the strings: the conductor.
Bekijk Der Freischütz
Performance information
Libretto
Friedrich Kind, after Der Freischütz by August Apel
New (English) dialogues by Kirill Serebrennikov and Arseniy Fariatiev
Musical direction Patrick Hahn
Direction and set design Kirill Serebrennikov
Co-direction and choreography Evgeny Kulagin
Costume designers Kirill Serebrennikov and Tanya Dolmatovskaya
Lighting design Franck Evin
Music dramaturgy Daniil Orlov
Video design Alan Mandelshtam
Fürst Ottokar + Kilian Michael Wilmering
Kuno James Platt
Agathe Johanni van Oostrum
Ännchen Ying Fang
Kaspar + Ein Eremit Günther Groissböck
Max Benjamin Bruns, Jussi Myllys (7 & 9 June)
Samiel Patrick Hahn
The Red One Odin Lund Biron
Brautjungfern
Caroline Cartens*
Lisette Bolle*
Dana Ilia*
Tomoko Makuuchi*
* Chorus of Dutch National Opera
Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Members and alumni of the Nationaal Jeugd Jazz Orkest
Rehearsal Konrad Koselleck
Chorus Chorus of Dutch National Opera
Chorus master Lionel Sow
Opera in three acts (1821)
Sung in German, spoken texts in English
Music from The Black Rider by Tom Waits
Just The Right Bullets
Flash Pan Hunter
I'll Shoot The Moon
With special thanks to Tom Waits,
Kathleen Brennan and Roger Dorresteijn
World Opera Day
World Opera Day is celebrated on 25 October, the birthday of Georges Bizet and Johann Strauss jr. − composers of possibly the world’s most famous opera and operetta. It is a day when opera companies, along with artists, opera lovers and opera professionals may show and celebrate the value of the art form.
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