Bregenz Festspielhaus tickets 2 August 2027 - Penthesilea | GoComGo.com

Penthesilea

Bregenz Festspielhaus, Großer Saal, Bregenz, Austria
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7:30 PM
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US$ 123

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Bregenz, Austria
Starts at: 19:30
Acts: 1
Sung in: German
Titles in: German,English

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast
Performers
Orchestra: Wiener Symphoniker
Conductor: Kristiina Poska
Choir: Prague Philharmonic Choir
Creators
Composer: Othmar Schoeck
Director: Mariame Clément
Festival

Bregenz Festival 2027

The Bregenz Festival 2027 brings opera and orchestral music back to the shores of Lake Constance, combining major works with the distinctive atmosphere of one of Europe’s most spectacular festival settings. The season presents performances at the Seebühne and Festspielhaus, alongside concerts by the Wiener Symphoniker and other leading musicians.

Overview

Boundless passion, madness, and the fatal conflict between love and duty during the Trojan War: Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, falls in love with the Greek hero Achilles, yet according to the law of her people, she must first defeat him in battle before she can marry him.

The cast will be announced in November 2026.

In an ecstatic outburst of violence, Penthesilea tears Achilles apart and ultimately meets her own death. Best known as a composer of Lieder (songs in the German language), the Swiss artist Othmar Schoeck created an intoxicating 80-minute, one-act opera of extraordinary dramatic force, based on Heinrich von Kleist’s tragedy of the same name. 

Its dark, intensely emotional score lies stylistically between late Romanticism and free tonality and features an exceptional orchestration with ten clarinets, percussion, and piano. Oscillating between melodrama and sung passages, the work conjures an archaic, haunting atmosphere. French director Mariame Clément sets the story within the abstract space of an anatomical theater, bringing the conflict between the pursuit of individual happiness and the constraints imposed by society into sharp focus. One hundred years after its world premiere, this gripping work returns in a new production at the Bregenzer Festspiele to mark the 250th anniversary of playwright Heinrich von Kleist’s birth.

History
Premiere of this production: 08 January 1927, Semperoper, Dresden

Penthesilea is a one-act opera by Othmar Schoeck, to a German-language libretto by the composer, after the work of the same name by Heinrich von Kleist. It was first performed at the Staatsoper in Dresden on 8 January 1927. Schoeck used the contrast between C major and F♯ major as a musical basis for his work. Robin Holloway has noted the similarity of theme to Richard Strauss' Elektra, as well as Schoeck's use of two pianos in the instrumentation.

Synopsis

Achilles has defeated the Amazon queen Penthesilea in battle. However, he falls in love with her. After Penthesilea has recovered, Achilles allows her to think that she defeated him, because Amazon law stipulates a warrior may only associate with a man whom she has defeated. Under this idea, Penthesilea returns the affections of Achilles. However, she finally does learn the truth, that in fact he defeated her in battle, and her love for him becomes hatred. Achilles then offers a second challenge to her, but he plans to come unarmed and to let her win. In her anger, she takes up the challenge, and in the duel, she savagely kills him.

Venue Info

Bregenz Festspielhaus - Bregenz
Location   Platz der Wr. Symphoniker

The Bregenz Festspielhaus is an event center in Bregenz and was opened in July 1980. It is the venue for the Bregenz Festival and the venue for conferences, congresses, and events. The operator of the Congress culture Bregenz GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state capital Bregenz is.

In 1990, architectural competition for an extension of the building was announced, which was won by the architects Helmut Dietrich and Much Untertrifaller, based in Bregenz and Vienna, with their architectural office of the same name, Dietrich/Untertrifaller. The concept envisaged a two-stage expansion of the existing building.

The first part of the extension was built in 1996/1997, including the workshop stage with side stage, lake studio, lake foyer, central kitchen, and the new administrative part of the house.

In 2005/2006, the existing building from 1980 was completely renovated and expanded by 10,000 cubic meters. The "Platz der Wiener Symphoniker" in front of the Festival and Congress Hall was redesigned as part of an "Art and Construction" project.

The approximately 7-meter high sculpture "Ready Maid" was created by Gottfried Bechtold. According to the renowned Vorarlberg artist, the inverted tree made of polished bronze is a striding tree woman, an antipode, a diametrically opposed art object to the performances. The sculpture stands in a slight depression, which, depending on the amount of precipitation, turns into a water-based paint and mirror surface up to 15 centimeters deep.

Cerith Wyn Evans created an installation of white neon light that reads "299,792,458 m/s" - the speed of light. The installation was mounted on the Festspielhaus and can be perceived as a light object itself, as a reflection in window panes and in the water, as shadows, etc.
The multifunctional orientation of the Festspielhaus now enables the implementation of a wide variety of event types. Conferences and congresses, cultural events, entertainment as well as company events, and social events form the portfolio of the house. In 2009 the Festspielhaus in Bregenz was voted one of the best event centers of its size in Europe by the European Association of Event Centers (EVVC) and received the corresponding award "Best Center 2009". In 2013, the Bregenz Festival Hall again received an award from the EVVC, this time in cooperation with the German Convention Bureau, namely the “Meeting Experts Green Award” in the “Sustainable Event Center” category.

In addition to the annual Bregenz Festival, performances of the Bregenz Spring Dance Festival, the Bregenz master concerts, concerts of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra, and shows and concerts of all genres take place in the Festspielhaus.

At the Seebühne Stars like Falco, Peter Gabriel, Supertramp, Herbert Grönemeyer, Elton John, Udo Jürgens, Xavier Naidoo and Cro gave concerts. In 2008, film recordings of James Bond 007: a Quantum consolation were recorded there.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Bregenz, Austria
Starts at: 19:30
Acts: 1
Sung in: German
Titles in: German,English
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