Celebrating Reimann’s Lear plus Janáček’s Jenůfa, Cherubini’s Medea: operatic highlights in Prague

Reimann: Lear Dietrich Fischer Dieskau in the title role in Munich

German composer Aribert Reimann died in March 2024 at the age of 88, leaving behind an amazing legacy including ten operas including Die Vogelscheuchen with a libretto by Günter Grass, the Kafka-based Das Schloß and of course Lear. Premiered in 1978, Lear was written at the suggestion of baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau who performed the work in Munich. 

Prague’s 2024/25 opera season ends with a new production of Reimann’s Lear in June 2025 at the State Opera. Not only is this the first production of the opera since Reimann’s death, but it coincides with the centenary of Dietrich Fischer Dieskau who was born in May 1925. The new production of Lear is directed by Barbora Horáková Joly, who directed Verdi’s Luisa Miller at English National Opera in 2020 [see my review], and whose production of Verdi’s Un giorno di regno we caught in Heidenheim in 2017 [see my review]. The musical director for Lear is Hermann Bäumer with Tómas Tómasson in the title role.

Another highlight of the Prague opera season next year will be a new production of Janáček’s Jenůfa at the National Theatre directed by Calixto Bieito who directed acclaimed production of Janáček’s Katya Kabanova at the National Theatre. Conducted by Norway’s Stefan Veselka, the production features Alžběta Poláčková as Jenůfa, Dana Burešová as Kostelnička Buryjovka, Aleš Briscein as Laca Klemeň and Martin Šrejma as Števa Buryja.

Also of interest and perhaps worth a weekend away, in January 2025, a new production Cherubini’s Medea (in the Italian version) opens at the Estates Theatre, directed by Roland Schwab, conducted by Robert Jindra with Svetlana Aksenova and Evan LeRoy Johnson [whom we caught as Don Jose in Glyndebourne’s new production of Bizet’s Carmen at the BBC Proms, see my review].

Full details from the National Theatre’s website.