The young soldier Don José intends to marry Micaëla, a girl from his home village. But when he meets the sensual and high-spirited Carmen, he sacrifices everything to be with her. Carmen grows tired of Don José and falls in love with the toreador Escamillo. Unable to bear her leaving him, Don José tracks Carmen down to a bullring where Escamillo is fighting and murders her.

Elizabeth of Valois is promised in marriage to Don Carlos of Spain, as part of a peace treaty between the two kingdoms. They meet and fall in love – but no sooner have they declared their love than news comes that the terms of the treaty have changed: Elizabeth is to marry Carlos’s father Philip instead. Politics and religion are dangerously entwined in Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo. Performed on November 30th, 2016, at the Opéra national du Rhin, Strasbourg.

One moment the singer Floria Tosca is standing on the stage, next moment she is the key figure in a deadly political intrigue sparked by jealousy and the craving for power. Giacomo Puccini’s thriller continues to captivate audiences to this day. Helsinki presents an audacious new production of this classic directed by Christof Loy. Award-winning German director Christof Loy promises a new and original vision of Puccini’s masterpiece. Lithuanian soprano Aušrinė Stundytė has the title role for the 2018/19 season, Italian tenor Andrea Carè plays the artist Cavaradossi and Finnish baritone Tuomas Pursio the power-hungry Scarpia. The conductor is Patrick Fournillier.

Performance in memory of Mirella Freni and Nicolai Ghiaurov, great interpreters of Don Carlo and beloved citizens of Modena.