
The Emperor
Opens June 4, 2023
Don't miss this once in a generation opera experience!
By Richard Strauss
Dates
June 4–28, 2023
Composer
Richard Strauss
Price
Starting at $31
Run Time
Approximately 3 hours 47 minutes including two intermissions
Language
Sung in German with English supertitles
Libretto
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Half-spirit and half-mortal, the Empress lives in fear of a curse: If she doesn’t acquire a human shadow in three days’ time, the spirit world will reclaim her—and turn her husband to stone.
Strauss’ rarely performed masterpiece returns for the first time in over 30 years in a vibrant production designed by acclaimed artist David Hockney. Former San Francisco Opera Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles conducts.
Best Availability
June 23
June 28
SUN, JUN 4, 2023
2:00 PM
SAT, JUN 10, 2023
7:00 PM
TUE, JUN 20, 2023
7:00 PM
FRI, JUN 23, 2023
7:00 PM
WED, JUN 28, 2023
7:00 PM
"[Nina] Stemme's voice harkens back to a golden age of opera while simultaneously proclaiming her as a dramatic soprano built for the twenty-first century."
-Opera News
"[Johan] Reuter’s ardently phrased Barak was the musical heart of the Met’s 2013 revival of Die Frau ohne Schatten, a performance of genuine star quality."
-Opera News
"Camilla Nylund... outdid herself as the shadowless Empress, harnessing her liquid silver soprano for a powerful role debut."
-Opera News
Out hunting with his favorite falcon, the Emperor of the Southeastern Islands captured a gazelle; she turned into a woman whom he married. Daughter of Keikobad, King of the spirits, she is a woman without a shadow—that is, unable to bear children. According to Keikobad’s decree, unless the Empress gains a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon she will be reclaimed by her father and the Emperor turned to stone.
Audio excerpts are from the 1976 cast of Die Frau ohne Schatten, with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Karl Böhm.
Orchestral Interlude, Act I/San Francisco Opera Orchestra; “Gib du mir Kinder”/Walter Berry as Barak; Chorus of Servant Girls/San Francisco Opera Chorus Women; “Um Nahrung für mich”/ Ursula Schröder-Feinen as the Dyer’s Wife; “Mit Welchem Preis”/Leonie Rysanek as the Empress
This production is made possible, in part, by Barbara A. Wolfe; Jerome L. and Thao N. Dodson; Louise Gund; Bernard and Barbro Osher; and Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem.