Les coulisses

Le quinte

Scenography

Kulisy

Kulisse

Entre bambalinas

Over a ton of artificial fir trees must go on the stage of the Zurich Opera House. They are needed for "La bohème". But not every person in Zurich understands why day in and day out there’s an opera truck driving through the city. What you always wanted to know about an opera house, but never dared to ask: employees of the Zurich Opera House answer.

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<p>Over a ton of artificial fir trees must go on the stage of the Zurich Opera House. They are needed for "La bohème". But not every person in Zurich understands why day in and day out there’s an opera truck driving through the city. What you always wanted to know about an opera house, but never dared to ask: employees of the Zurich Opera House answer.</p>

What you always wanted to know about an opera house but never dared to ask.

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40 microphones for the orchestra, 20 microphones for the choir, one camera for the conductor and 1000 meters of 10 gigabit fiber optic cable: This is how the "sound transmission from next door" of the Zurich Opera works. The orchestra and choir broadcast live from the rehearsal room on Kreuzplatz to the auditorium of the opera house.

40 microphones for the orchestra, 20 microphones for the choir, one camera for the conductor and 1000 meters of fiber optic cable.

The way of the sound

The year is 1830 and the ruling Zurich pastor doesn’t want a theatre in his city. The citizenry find this situation intolerable and decide to establish a “TheaterAktiengesellschaft” – an ingenious move involving the creation of a joint-stock company that enabled the inhabitants of the city to build a theatre. Sixty years later, the building burns down and everyone is happy. How can that be?

What you’ve always wanted to know about the Zurich Opera House but never dared to ask: time to take stock...

Let’s take stock

What happens to all the costumes at the end of the season?The nimble-fingered ladies of the Costume Shop unlock the ozone closet and demonstrate vodka spray.What you always wanted to know about the Opernhaus, but were afraid to ask:The team of Opernhaus Zürich reveals all.

What you always wanted to know about the Opernhaus, but were afraid to ask:The Repertoire Costume Shop.

The Ladies of the Repertoire Costume Shop

New shoes should be taken good care of. “Certainly not!” screams the pointe shoe.Because the pointe shoe is tough – having been cut, kneaded, beaten, and stitched.All for its own good of course.What you always wanted to know about the Opernhaus, but were afraid to ask:the team of Opernhaus Zürich reveals all.

What you always wanted to know about the Opernhaus, but were afraid to ask: The Pointe Shoe.

The Life of a Pointe Shoe

Not only in the auditorium, there are many seats in an opera house. Who takes a seat where when any why in the opera house during the course of a working day? The Zurich Opera House answers in a new episode of: What you always wanted to know about the opera house, but never dared to ask.

What you always wanted to know about the opera house, but never dared to ask.

Chairs, Stools, and other Seats

A lyrical mezzo-soprano and sonorous baritone sing a musical in an opera house.Or is it an operetta? Categorizing works according to genre is not always easy, but it can be extremely important.What are the different disciplines for singers and how are they assigned? What you always wanted to know about the Opernhaus, but were afraid to ask:The team of Opernhaus Zürich reveals all.

What you always wanted to know about the Opernhaus, but were afraid to ask: The Voice.

The voice

In six minutes, the curtain rises - a stressful moment for every opera singer. Tenor Benjamin Bernheim, baritone Huw Montague Rendall and conductor Speranza Scappucci explain how they deal with their stage fright. What you always wanted to know about an opera house, but never dared to ask: employees of the Zurich Opera House answer.

What you always wanted to know about an opera house, but never dared to ask.

Stage fright

Puking geese, gutted pigs and almost real crows - Andreas Gatzka is the "Gyro Gearloose" at the studios of the Zurich Opera House. He creates illusions on stage that put the visions of the directors to life. What you always wanted to know about an opera house, but never dared to ask: employees of the Zurich Opera House answer.

Theatre Magic

Andreas Homoki, Director of the Zurich Opera House, will remain in office until 2025. The contract extension was announced by the Board of Directors of the Zurich Opera House on 2 July 2018. The contract renewal of ballet director Christian Spuck was also announced. Gianandrea Noseda succeeds Fabio Luisi as General Music Director from 2021.

Director Andreas Homoki and ballet director Christian Spuck have extended their contracts.

Zurich Opera House: Team 2021

Zurich Opera House - Zurich, Switzerland

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Conductor Raphaël Pichon and director Cyril Teste team up to bring Beethoven’s Fidelio to the stage of the Opéra Comique.

Beethoven’s only opera conducted by Raphaël Pichon.

Beethoven's "Fidelio" at the Opéra Comique

Long-neglected works from several centuries of operatic history have long been a staple of the internationally acclaimed annual opera festival in the little Irish coastal town of Wexford.Having been forced to take a break last year, the festival has a rediscovered work by the important Italian composer Alfredo Catalani on this year’s programme: Edmea.

Wexford Festival Opera 2021

Wexford Opera Festival proudly presents a rediscovered, long forgotten work by Alfredo Catalani.

Alfredo Catalani: Edmea

This telling of the Bluebeard story features a libretto by Maeterlinck inspired by Perrault’s famous fairy tale. It is an opera that gives pride of place to female characters and beguiles audiences with the evocative music of Paul Dukas.

From the Lyon Opera

This telling of the Bluebeard story gives pride of place to female characters and beguiles audiences with the evocative music of Paul Dukas.

Dukas: Ariane et Barbe-Bleue

To celebrate 50 years of French radio station FIP, Sting gives a special performance in the monumental surroundings of the Pantheon in Paris.

50 Years of FIP Radio

Sting at the Pantheon in Paris

Pippi Longstocking, the superhumanly strong redhead with pigtails and freckles, conquers the world of classical ballet. The Swedish dancer and choreographer Pär Isberg stages Astrid Lindgren’s favourite character from the Villa Villekulla for the Helsinki opera house. The ballet music is the work of Georg Riedel and Stefan Nilsson.

From the Helsinki Opera

The Swedish dancer and choreographer Pär Isberg stages Astrid Lindgren’s favourite character for the Helsinki opera house.

Pippi Longstocking

Stuttgart Ballet performs ‘Onegin’, John Cranko’s acclaimed 1965 choreography of Alexander Pushkin’s novel. Classical ballet at its best in a version created for the cinema.

A Ballet by John Cranko

Stuttgart Ballet performs ‘Onegin’, John Cranko’s acclaimed 1965 choreography of Alexander Pushkin’s novel.

Onegin

Carolyn Carlson and her company bid farewell to each other in a final creation. On the Chaillot theatre stage in Paris, the legendary choreographer and performer presents The Tree (Fragments of poetics on fire), an ode to nature and the elements.

Théâtre de Chaillot

The legendary American choreographer presents The Tree (Fragments of poetics on fire), an ode to nature and the elements.

Carolyn Carlson's The Tree

Sting was an ecologically-conscious yogi hipster before it was even a thing. He's always been fighting for our right to enjoy a better future than the one we are making for ourselves. Perhaps a strange mission for someone with punk musical roots?

Tape

Sting was an ecologically-conscious yogi hipster before it was even a thing

Sting

A special gala concert to celebrate five years of Hamburg’s fantastic new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, opened on January 11 2017. The NDR Elbphilharmonie orchestra performs works by Adams, Adès and Salonen with conductor Alan Gilbert and pianist Kiril Gerstein.

With Kirill Gerstein, Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

A special gala concert to celebrate five years of Hamburg’s fantastic new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie.

5 Years of the Elbphilharmonie

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Meet two of Poland's oldest hippies: Juliusz (92) and Krystof (77) have been living on the shores of Lake Solina, in almost total isolation and surrounded by nature and animals, for decades. But life in the middle of nowhere is increasingly hard on their aging bodies. 

Meet two of Poland's oldest hippies: Juliusz (92) and Krystof (77)

Re: An Unconventional Retirement

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

Saudi Arabia is reputed to be one of the richest and most conservative nations on the planet. But how do its citizens live today?

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Saudi Arabia: The West

Lowriding is a passion for cars where owners customise their vintage vehicles to look cool gliding along the Los Angeles boulevards. For long a male-only pursuit, more and more women are getting into it lowriding.

Geo Reportage

Lowriders of Los Angeles

Faced with more frequent and violent natural disasters caused by climate change, animals and plants are adapting. Some species, such as sharks, which are able to sense the change in atmospheric pressure of a coming hurricane, move away from danger. Others learn to live with it, such as curlews, which use the hot ash from erupting volcanoes in Papua New Guinea to incubate their eggs. A surprising and inspiring documentary about nature's survivors.

How Animals and Plants Survive

Faced with more frequent and violent natural disasters caused by climate change, animals and plants are adapting. A surprising and inspiring documentary about nature's survivors.

Natural Disasters

A region of Europe with a shared experience of communism and USSR dominance, Eastern Europe today is characterised by nations with diverse cultural and political identities.

Mapping the World

How many Eastern Europes?

In recent years Oman has been opening up to western tourists. What awaits them is a land of mountains, deserts, fjords, and pristine beaches.

Fairytale Oman

Vadum Minsyuk and Yuri Andreyev fled the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014. In search of a new beginning, they decided to start a new life in the Chernobyl region, close to the exclusion zone from the 1986 nuclear disaster. The dangers of radiation are better than the rockets of war.

Vadum Minsyuk and Yuri Andreyev fled the war in eastern Ukraine to start a new life in the Chernobyl region,  The dangers of radiation are better than the rockets of war for them.

Re: New Beginning in Chernobyl

The Indian state of Sikkim has banned pesticides completely, allowing only organic farming. The results: healthy food and healthy soils.

ARTE Reportage

India: Sikkim - A Green New World

The United Arab Emirates includes the sci-fi like cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai with their breath taking towers and impressive beach resorts. It is also a land of expats with residents from over two hundred different nations.

The United Arab Emirates includes the sci-fi like cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is also a land of expats with residents from over two hundred different nations.

United Arab Emirates

Iraq in 2022: Will the emerging nation succeed in resisting foreign influence and from Iran in particular? What does the future hold for the Kurdish autonomous region? And will the USA ever really leave?

Iraq in 2022: Will the emerging nation succeed in resisting influence from foreign powers, and from Iran in particular? 

Iraq - A Sovereign Country?

A journey through Middle-earth, or rather New Zealand. Peter Jackson used the natural beauty of his native land to great effect in his film adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s classic trilogy. A tour through locations for the Shire, the Misty Mountains and Mordor… 

Cult Film Locations

A journey through New Zealand used to great effect in the film adaptation of Tolkien’s classic.

Looking for the Lord of the Rings

It's big business: in summer, hundreds of kilos of mushrooms are illegally picked every day in Romanian forests. They are then transported to Italy by intermediaries where they are sold at astronomical prices. Romanian authorities do nothing as the forests are looted unsustainably for their grey gold.

It's big business: in summer, hundreds of kilos of mushrooms are illegally picked every day in Romanian forests

Re: Truffle Traffick in Romania

Saudi Arabia has many surprises in store for visitors. Around the gulf city of Dammam in the east, huge oil fields have made the country's fortune. Further inland, the flea market in the capital, Riyadh, attracts businessmen, day labourers and billionaires who all come to haggle.

Saudi Arabia has many surprises in store for visitors from the coastal city of Dammam to the bustling markets of the capital, Riyadh.

Zurich Opera House

Zurich Opera House - Zurich, Switzerland

The way of the sound

Let’s take stock

The Ladies of the Repertoire Costume Shop

The Life of a Pointe Shoe

Chairs, Stools, and other Seats

The voice

Stage fright

ScenographyZurich Opera House

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Zurich Opera House

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