2020 marks 250 years since the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, and we're kicking off our Beethoven year in style with this extraordinary event: the great one's only opera, Fidelio—returning home to the historical Theater an der Wien, site of its very first staging in 1805—in a stunning new production by two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz!
The brilliant Waltz is not only a celebrated character actor—he is also a lifelong opera fanatic and an experienced director in his own right, joined by an all-star cast: Grammy-winning Maestro Manfred Honeck, beloved music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducts the first-rate Wiener Symphoniker while acclaimed soprano Nicole Chevalier, fresh off her Salzburg Festival debut last summer, shines as Leonore opposite talented tenor Eric Cutler as Florestan.
Leonore will stop at nothing to free her husband Florestan, unjustly imprisoned by despotic governor Don Pizarro—even if it means disguising herself as a man, Fidelio, to gain access to his cell. Will petty vengeance and political corruption reign, or will they collapse in the face of Leonore’s quest to restore justice and save her beloved?
Photo © Monika Rittershaus
