Der fliegende Holländer

Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund thrilled as Brünnhilde in the new Zurich Ring des Nibelungen, and now she returns to Zurich as Senta. Her stage partner here is Tomasz Koniezcny, who will sing the title role in this revival and who celebrated his own triumph in the Zurich Ring when he took the stage as Wotan. General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, meanwhile, showed with the Zurich Ring that he is a fantastic Wagner conductor. He now takes over the musical direction of this revival production.
The titular hero is the unlucky «flying» Dutchman, who refuses to give up sailing around a dangerous cape despite fiercely-raging storms. Richard Wagner recognized in the character someone who does not simply accept the order of the world, but wants to overthrow it, even if he is punished with a terrible curse. This Dutchman must have seemed like a kindred spirit to the young composer and revolutionary. Senta, too – her lifelong dream is to escape the narrow-minded conventions of her father’s house and redeem the sailor; she is a woman with an unconditional desire for self-realization. Against all odds, she is determined to realize her vision of a fulfilled existence, and remains true to herself to the very end. The encounter between Senta and the Dutchman ends tragically. But in Wagner’s eyes, it is not they who fail the world, but the world that fails them. A few years after finishing the opera, Wagner stood on the barricades in Dresden and tried to turn his dream of a world redeemed by love and determined by love into reality...
Der fliegende Holländer was the first directorial work presented by Andreas Homoki in Zurich, and now the successful production returns to the Opernhaus for this, Homiki’s final season as Intendant and Artistic Director.