Alceste

The story of the Queen of Pherai’s sacrifice has been told and interpreted in a wide variety of ways over the 2,500 years since Euripides’ tragedy *Alcestis *. Does Alceste die out of pure love, as the libretto for Gluck’s opera suggests? Does she submit to a patriarchal order? Or is her decision, rather, an act of self-empowerment? Milo Rau’s artistic work is always situated within the context of the political realities and conflicts of our present day. The question of sacrifice as the surrender of one’s own life leads the artist to Ukraine: against the backdrop of the brutal war—the fourth anniversary of which fell during the production’s preparation—the question of the decision to give one’s life takes on a new perspective. In close collaboration with conductor Titus Engel and various Ukrainian artists, Rau thus creates a new *Alceste* for our time, one that addresses not only the theme of sacrifice but also the second major theme of the work and the myth: the possibility of life’s triumph over death. *

* Tragédie-opéra in three acts
Libretto by Marius-François-Louis Gand Lebland, Bailli Du Roullet, based on Ranieri de’ Calzabigi

by Christoph Willibald Gluck

approx. 3 hours, including intermission
A more precise duration will be announced at the premiere.