Ariadne auf Naxos

A joyous, touching collision of tragedy and comedy, revealing both the absurdity and the beauty of making art.

What begins as a frantic rehearsal for both an opera and a comic play spirals into creative mayhem when the wealthy patron funding the event decrees that both must be performed simultaneously. The result is a joyous, touching collision of tragedy and comedy, revealing both the absurdity and the beauty of making art.

Director Paul Curran’s new staging divides itself between a grand Viennese villa and a miniature Baroque theatre. This shifting visual world mirrors the opera’s musical dialogue between classical formality and contemporary wit—a daring fusion of opera seria and commedia dell’arte.

Conducted by Johannes Debus, the COC Orchestra captures both the sparkling humour and emotional grandeur of R. Strauss’s score.

We’re backstage before a special performance of an opera and a comic play. All is mayhem when it’s announced that the two separate performances are now to be performed at the same time! In part two (the "Opera"), we see the resulting performance, as the two groups of artists work together to bring Ariadne’s tale to life.