ARMIDA

In the organizer's words:

A co-production of the Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Hans Otto Theater

A love drama in times of war. Armida serves her uncle Idreno, a despotic ruler, with her art of seduction as a weapon of war. She has subjected the strongest and bravest warrior in the enemy army, Rinaldo, to her spell, but has fallen in love with the hero herself. Blinded by love, Rinaldo forgets his mission and goes into battle against his own fellow believers. Armida fears his death on the battlefield and protects him. Rinaldo is reminded of his duties by his comrade-in-arms Ubaldo and is torn between his love for Armida and the realization of his mission.

Haydn's surprisingly dramatic musical interpretation of the most extreme expressions of emotion between love and hate turns the work into an emotionally charged chamber play about human passions. "Armida" was premiered in 1784 at the princely theater in Esterháza. Contemporaries considered this opera seria to be Haydn's best stage work. The subject is taken from Torquato Tasso's epic poem "The Liberated Jerusalem", which was set to music many times during the Baroque period.

Early music specialist Konrad Junghänel, who played a key role in the successful development of the Potsdam Winter Opera, has taken over the musical direction. He has already conducted the Mozart operas "Così fan tutte" and "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" in the Schlosstheater and the Handel oratorios "Jephtha", "Israel in Egypt" and "Theodora" in the Friedenskirche. This is the first time Björn Reinke has staged his own production at the Schlosstheater. Since 2014, he has worked as a freelance director and assistant director at various theaters in Germany and abroad. Recent productions have been created at the Stuttgart University of Music, Theater Bad Pyrmont, Landestheater Coburg, the Röttingen Festival and the Conservatorium Maastricht/NL. Sibylle Gädeke, head of set design at the Hans Otto Theater from 1995 to 2001, is an internationally renowned artist and experienced set and costume designer.