Michael König

A black comedy about the dream of freedom and the difficulty of obtaining this: While Molly (Eva Mattes), Elisabeth (Katja Flint) and Maria (Ornella Muti) are great friends, but at the same time completely different. Molly is a difficult stressed housewife and mother of three children, Elisabeth is the perfect career woman and Maria uses already in their third marriage sex appeal to get ahead in life. But one day it turns out that the three except their friendship still connects another great thing in common: They are all tired of her life as a wife. And so begins the story of a rabenscharzen comedy about the dream of freedom and the difficulties to achieve this. The only question is: How are they merely their husbands going on?

Axel Köhler’s production of Der Freischütz at the Dresden State Opera was described by Die Presse as “a minor miracle in Dresden”. In the words of the Salzburger Nachrichten, Köhler “scored a bulleye” with his sombre and satanic interpretation of Weber’s Romantic opera about love, temptation, souls sold to the Devil, obsession andfaith. According to the Financial Times, Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle conjured up a sense of “mortal terror from the orchestra pit. […] Thielemann is in command of every detail. That makes for utterly gripping listening.”

Inspired by Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz, the film opera Hunter's Bride traces the romantic rivalry between two veterans of the Napoleonic Wars who each vie for the heart of the same woman.

Le 10 avril 1864, Maximilien de Habsbourg est proclamé empereur du Mexique. Le frère de François-Joseph d'Autriche doit sa couronne à Napoléon III. Ce dernier a pour ambition d’affirmer le prestige des très catholiques civilisations latines et de développer l’économie du Mexique afin de contrer l’influence croissante des États-Unis dans la région… Franc-maçon et esprit ouvert, Maximilien souhaite lancer des réformes dans sa nouvelle patrie. Mais il se heurte au président de la République mexicaine, Benito Juárez, qui imagine un autre avenir pour son pays et ne supporte pas cette ingérence occidentale. L'argent fait rapidement défaut à Maximilien, à tel point qu'en 1866, son épouse belge, l’impératrice Charlotte, s’embarque pour l’Europe dans l’espoir de lever des fonds auprès des cours royales. Sans succès. Et Napoléon III laisse lâchement tomber son ancien protégé…

A hard-hitting new production of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by the Catalan collective La Fura dels Baus at the Teatro Real de Madrid. Composed in the 1930s by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, this is a mordant satire on capitalism and the inexorable industrialisation of a society in which the ultimate crime is not having money. In twenty scenes the authors tell the story of a city lost in the middle of a desert and run by three thugs; in Mahagonny food, sex, gambling and violence rule supreme.

Carl Maria von Webers dark Romantic era tale of love, faith, and temptation is grippingly performed by the Dresden Staatskapelle led by conductor, Christian Thielemann in this live performance from early 2015. With highly acclaimed staging by Axel Köhler, the singers in leading roles add to the luster of the production with the tenor Michael Königs performance of the anti-hero Max displaying a gloriously free upper register bringing heroic weight to his role and Sara Jakubiak sweet toned and melancholic Agathe.