Violanta - Premiere - Schedule, Program & Tickets
Violanta - Premiere
Date:
Time:
Location:
25.01.2026 , Sunday
18:00
Deutsche Oper, Bismarckstraße 35, 10627 Berlin, Germany
Seating plan
With the premiere of his one-act opera VIOLANTA at the Vienna Court Opera, the 19-year-old Erich Wolfgang Korngold suddenly transformed from a promising child prodigy into one of the most influential opera composers of his generation. VIOLANTA not only demonstrated that here was a young master at work, possessing an orchestral palette as independent as it was diverse, possessing an instinct for stage effect, and even capable of writing melodies that were as expressive as they were catchy. The nearly seventy-five-minute work, based on a libretto by Hans Müller, who later became known as the lyricist of THE WHITE HORSEBACK, also demonstrated that Korngold had precisely captured the tone oscillating between apocalyptic sentiment, Art Nouveau, and psychoanalysis, between Freud, Klimt, and Schnitzler, that characterized the Viennese attitude to life at his time. The play's plot provides a perfect backdrop for all of this: During Carnival, the Venetian Violanta plots to avenge her sister's suicide at the hands of her seducer, Prince Alfonso. But ultimately, she realizes that she's only trying to kill her own desire for erotic devotion and sacrifices herself to free herself from "lust and guilt."
At the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which caused a sensation in 2018 with the rediscovery of the opera DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE (also written to a libretto by Hans Müller), the new production of VIOLANTA is in the hands of General Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles and David Hermann, who have previously jointly designed new productions of DIE SACHE MAKROPULOS and FIDELIO.
Spotlight
Laura Wilde's first experience with the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold came early in her career. In 2018, she had the opportunity to sing the lead role in THE RING OF POLYCRATES at the Dallas Opera, the comic opera that premiered alongside VIOLANTA in 1916. Since then, the young soprano from South Dakota has had a distinguished career, performing at venues such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Stuttgart State Theater, and English National Opera. The center of gravity of her repertoire, which ranges from Mozart to Britten, is the German fach, with roles such as Wagner's Sieglinde and Strauss's Salome. Now it's time for Violanta—and with that, Wilde may be the only singer ever to have performed both parts of Korngold's debut as an opera composer.
Subject to change.
At the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which caused a sensation in 2018 with the rediscovery of the opera DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE (also written to a libretto by Hans Müller), the new production of VIOLANTA is in the hands of General Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles and David Hermann, who have previously jointly designed new productions of DIE SACHE MAKROPULOS and FIDELIO.
Spotlight
Laura Wilde's first experience with the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold came early in her career. In 2018, she had the opportunity to sing the lead role in THE RING OF POLYCRATES at the Dallas Opera, the comic opera that premiered alongside VIOLANTA in 1916. Since then, the young soprano from South Dakota has had a distinguished career, performing at venues such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Stuttgart State Theater, and English National Opera. The center of gravity of her repertoire, which ranges from Mozart to Britten, is the German fach, with roles such as Wagner's Sieglinde and Strauss's Salome. Now it's time for Violanta—and with that, Wilde may be the only singer ever to have performed both parts of Korngold's debut as an opera composer.
Subject to change.