Der Rosenkavalier

This opulent new production by Oscar-winning film director John Schlesinger marks the 25th anniversary of Sir Georg Solti’s spectacular debut at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. This is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss, with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The music is provided by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Georg Solti. The scene is Vienna in the early years of the reign of Empress Maria Theresa, the story beginning with the love affair between The Marschallin (Kiri Te Kanawa) the wife of Field Marshall Prince Werdenberg and her latest lover, the young Count Octavian (Anne Howells). The action begins when the Marschallin’s roguish cousin Baron Ochs (Aage Haugland) stumbles into their bed chamber and mistakes the disguised Count for the Marschallin’s woman servant and falls madly in love with her. Complications arise as the noble young Count finds himself falling in love with Och’s betrothed, the enchantingly vulnerable Sophie (Barbara Bonney).