Performer: Latvian National Opera Choir

A new steampunk staging for Latvian National Opera stays true to the fantastical invention of Hoffmann and Offenbach. 

The leafy parks and cobbled streets of Riga’s old town are far removed from the intense heat of the little village in the Basque Country in which Donizetti set his L'elisir d'amore, but a new production at the Latvian National Opera captures much of the spirit of the work, adroitly balancing comedy with the joys and pain of love.

Claus Guth's staging walks a line between atmosphere and audacity, in a powerful company achievement from Latvian National Opera.