Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier @ Zurich Opera House

Plot Summary

When Strauss and Hofmannsthal wrote «Der Rosenkavalier» – setting it in an imaginary Rococo Vienna and yet closely linked to the decadent fin de siècle – they created a profound social comedy. It is not without melancholy that the Marschallin lets her young lover Octavian go when he falls head over heels with Sophie, who hails from Faninal’s bourgeois household. As voluptuous as Strauss' score is, it contains tender moments of dream and melancholy. Director Lydia Steier stages Strauss’ opera according to an aesthetic concept by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. Diana Damrau sings the Marschallin. Joana Mallwitz, chief conductor at the Konzerthaus Berlin, conducts the Orchester der Oper Zürich.

Top Cast

Diana Damrau Die Feldmarschallin Fürstin Werdenberg

Günther Groissböck Der Baron Ochs von Lerchenau

Bo Skovhus Herr von Faninal

Angela Brower Octavian

Emily Pogorelc Sophie