Bluebeard's
Castle

Drama behind closed doors

The three works come together in an unique performance by director Tobias Kratzer, exposing to us the dark nooks and crannies of relationships.

Join us on a journey through time, but without changing location: An apartment where different couples through different times live through days and nights, hope and despair, life and death.

Our lives unfold behind closed doors. The fiercest dramas are played out between two persons who share their lives together. That's what awaits. That's where it burns, both now and then.

You may very well end up confronting yourself. After all, does anyone really change? Can we free ourselves from old habits? Or are we simply echoing those who have lived here before us?

A Kinder Surprise of a performance

This is an opportunity to experience fierce music and three significant works interwoven into one intense narrative that spans different eras, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.

Distinguished composers, distinguished artists

The evening starts with Robert Schumann's song cycle Frauenliebe und –leben (1841), continues with Béla Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle (1911) and ends with A Florentine Tragedy (1915–16) by Alexander Zemlinsky.

All three are staged by director Tobias Kratzer, one of the most exciting directors in today’s opera world. The conductor is Edward Gardner, the new music director of the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet.

Tobias Kratzer Is Leading Opera’s Next Generation of Directors.

New York Times