The story concerns the enlightenment of the Christian King Roger II by a young shepherd who represents pagan ideals. Kasper Holten’s production (The Royal Opera’s first) of Król Roger (King Roger) brought the opera back to the London stage after an absence of almost 40 years. Karol Szymanowski’s masterpiece powerfully presents the dilemmas of culture versus nature and man versus beast, and movingly depicts King Roger’s inner struggles as he moves from an impossible life of repressed desires to the other extreme, giving in to his own demons. Meanwhile, Roger’s people, seduced by the promises of the mysterious Shepherd, are drawn towards totalitarianism and repression. Antonio Pappano conducts Szymanowksi’s opulent and beautiful score, with a cast including Mariusz Kwiecień as Roger (one of the greatest interpreters of the role today), Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd, and Georgia Jarman in her Royal Opera debut as Roger’s loving queen Roxana.

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“Let us assume that Switzerland is truly a paradise. The music hereto was written long ago. We have ...

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The historic, original, live airing of what would become an annual Christmas tradition throughout th...

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The production by Deutsche Oper Berlin achieves a beautiful balance between the stage drama and the ...

The grand scale and magnificent acoustics of the Roman arena in Verona are ideally suited to the pag...

A musical drama based on Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto.

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Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert...

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