Werk: Eine florentinische Tragödie (A Florentine Tragedy) Op.16

An unlikely coupling of one-act operas by Zemlinsky and Puccini bears fruit in a staging that reveals their thematic parallels while leaving their obvious differences on show.

Zemlinsky's dark story of infidelity and murder, from Oscar Wilde's unfinished play, poses a significant musical challenge for both audience and director. 

Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten is perhaps his most problematic opera, in that it contains all that is best and worst in him, to the most maddening degrees.