La Belle Hélène

Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène has always been one of its composer’s most successful works. Its first performance in Paris was quickly followed by productions in Vienna, Berlin, London, Milan and New York. A satire of middle-class values, this opéra bouffe pillories narrow-mindedness in society. Adopting a pro-active stance, director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe treat the piece as a “great show” with numerous choreographic elements, relocating the action of Offenbach’s classical spoof and setting it on a cruise ship in the 1960s, when Flower Power, love and drugs were all the rage.

“La Belle Hélène is a firework display for ears and eyes” (Hamburger Morgenpost), “opulent and amusing” (Bild), and in the title role Jennifer Larmore convinces with her “fantastic vocal performance” (Das Opernglas)

Hosokawa: Stilles Meer

Under the baton of Kent Nagano, the Philharmoniker Hamburg performed the eagerly awaited world premiere of the opera Stilles Meer by Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa, starring superb singers as the world famous countertenor Bejun Mehta. Stilles Meer transfers a prominent theme of the Japanese dance theatre, Sumidagawa, into the setting of Fukushima, picturing the grief of a German woman who lost her boy and her husband during the Tsunami that attacked Fukushima in March 2011 and her unrelievable sorrow not being able to accept that reality. “The orchestra plays [for Kent Nagano] with delicate precision. Susanne Elmark sings with clarity and warmth. Bejun Mehta infuses his lines with affectingly bittersweet melancholy. ” (Financial Times).

La Belle Hélène

Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène has always been one of its composer’s most successful works. Its first performance in Paris was quickly followed by productions in Vienna, Berlin, London, Milan and New York. A satire of middle-class values, this opéra bouffe pillories narrow-mindedness in society. Adopting a pro-active stance, director Renaud Doucet and designer André Barbe treat the piece as a “great show” with numerous choreographic elements, relocating the action of Offenbach’s classical spoof and setting it on a cruise ship in the 1960s, when Flower Power, love and drugs were all the rage. “La Belle Hélène is a firework display for ears and eyes” (Hamburger Morgenpost), “opulent and amusing” (Bild), and in the title role Jennifer Larmore convinces with her “fantastic vocal performance” (Das Opernglas)