The 2013 Glyndebourne Festival opens with a new production of this compelling and intricately crafted collaboration between composer Richard Strauss and writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal. After the enormous success of 'Der Rosenkavalier', the two men conceived the idea of a light entertainment, a small trifle to amuse and divert the public.
The kernel of the story is a clash between two different types of dramatic performance, as represented by a troupe of comic artists led by the irrepressible Zerbinetta, and the high seriousness of the classical myth of Ariadne; roles sung by Laura Claycomb and Soile Isokoski, both making their Glyndebourne debuts. Thomas Allen sings the Music Master.
In Vladimir Jurowski’s final season as Music Director he conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in his first fully-staged Strauss opera, working with the German director Katharina Thoma, making her UK debut.