Die Entführung aus dem Serail - Schedule, Program & Tickets

CAST
BASSA SELIM
Peter Nikolaus Kante
KONSTANZE
Adela Zaharia / Heidi Elisabeth Meier
BLONDE
Sibylla Duffe
BELMONTE
Jussi Myllys / Stephen Chambers
PEDRILLO
Cornel Frey
OSMIN
Thorsten Grümbel / David Steffens
CHOR
Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein
ORCHESTER
Düsseldorfer Symphoniker


The English nobleman Belmonte has travelled to the Orient in order to rescue his betrothed Konstanze, who is being held prisoner by the Turk Bassa. Bassa has threatened the young woman with “all kinds of martyrdoms” if she refuses him and Osmin, who oversees his harem, also seeks to exploit his power over Konstanze’s companion Blonde.

For Mozart’s contemporaries the East provided the location for numerous adventure stories that were circulated in Europe and generated some wild fantasies. Mozart chose one of these to highlight a traditional theme from European cultural history: the encounter with a foreigner that reflects potential conflicts within one’s own culture such as love, jealousy and the need to be liked. What is on trial here is not exotic customs, but rather Western values of morality, decency and the faithfulness and constancy of the heart. These challenges lead to irritations not only for Konstanze and her Belmonte but also the servant couple Pedrillo and Blonde. In the end all the complications of this Oriental adventure are resolved with humanity and tolerance, the great ideals of the Enlightenment, and as a consequence Mozart’s cheery “Turkish opera” offers considerable food for thought today.

Subject may change.