PREMIERENFEIER

With breathtaking emotional power, Michael Hersch and Stephanie Fleischmann retell the story of Emperor Nero and his wife Poppaea: 2000 years ago, she was the most powerful woman in the world, she ruthlessly fought for her own goals, and lived to see the burning of Rome and the end of a world. This opera directed by Markus Bothe ventures on a red-hot journey to the dark side of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. The Basel-based architecture firm Piertzovanis Töws turns the stage design into a statement on taking responsibility for the consequences of one's own actions. "Poppaea is an opera about a woman whose desire is limitless; a woman who has to endure many things and make her way through a world in which women are systematically silenced. The violence that prevails in this world is extreme. It begs the question: how far have we come? How little have we progressed?" (Michael Hersch / Stephanie Fleischmann)