«I wanted to emphasize the surreal aspect of Betrothal in a Monastery. It’s a comic opera that tells of the protagonist’s journey into a fantasy world; and we try to make it all the more effective by changing the spatial dimensions, playing with transforming costumes and identities, and by creating visions that bring the story to an imaginative level». This is how Damiano Michieletto describes his new production of Sergej Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, running at the MusikTheater an der Wien, in the capital of Austria, from Wednesday 26 March until 9 April.

«A tragedy linked to man’s immaturity, to Don José’s inability to accept his own reality, eventually leading him to a tragic act, emblematic of his persistent infantilism». This is how stage director Damiano Michieletto describes his new production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen, on stage at the Royal Opera House in London from 5 April 2024.