| Welsh National Opera | ||
| Leo Hussain | Conductor | |
| Olivia Fuchs | Director | |
| Nicola Turner | Set Designer, Costume Designer | |
| Robbie Butler | Lighting Designer | |
| Welsh National Opera Orchestra | ||
| Welsh National Opera Chorus | ||
| Sam Sharples | Video | |
| Riccardo Saggese | Circus artist | Jaschiu |
| Firenza Guidi | Circus director | |
| Mark Le Brocq | Tenor | Gustav von Aschenbach |
| Roderick Williams | Baritone | Traveller/ Elderly fop/ Old gondolier/ Hotel manager/ Hotel barber/ Leader of the players/ Voice of Dionysus |
| Alexander Chance | Countertenor | Voice of Apollo |
| Carolyn Jackson | Soprano | Danish Lady |
| Meriel Andrew | Soprano | English Lady, Lace seller |
| Angharad Morgan | Soprano | Newspaper seller |
| Fiona Harrison-Wolfe | Soprano | Russian mother |
| Helen Greenaway | Mezzo-soprano | Nurse-governess |
| Emily Christina Loftus | Soprano | Strawberry seller |
| Stella Woodman | Mezzo-soprano | German mother |
| Claire Hampton | Soprano | Strolling player |
| Alun Rhys-Jenkins | Tenor | Glassmaker |
| Peter Van Hulle | Tenor | Hotel porter |
| Rhodri Prys-Jones | Tenor | Strolling player |
| Stephen Wells | Bass | A guide |
| Gareth Brynmor John | Baritone | English clerk |
| Martin Lloyd | Bass | Hotel waiter |
| Alastair Moore | Baritone | Russian father |
| Antony César | Dancer | Tadzio |
In the search for beauty and meaning, the renowned author Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice on a whim. In the sultry atmosphere of a cholera epidemic, with the scirocco blowing, he falls in love with Tadzio, a youthful aristocrat who is staying in the same hotel with his family. As Aschenbach projects his loneliness and desire on him, fantasy and imagination intermingle with existence. His obsession progresses to a fever pitch as he becomes increasingly divorced from reality.
Inspired by the original Thomas Mann novella, Britten’s magnificently atmospheric opera comes to life in this new production from WNO, creating images of ravishing beauty, as well as exploring the grotesque hidden beneath the search for the sublime. As poetic worlds of the imagination collide with reality, the early 20th century acts as a mirror to our times.