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Semele

VenueNational Theatre Munich
CalendarFri 25 Sep 2026 - Wed 07 Oct 2026
Synopsis/Details

Production

She is an extra in her own life. Her life’s reality is alien to her. Semele’s father urges her to marry Athamas, and she suddenly finds herself in her own wedding ceremony, hyped up by the marriage industry into a pompous Hollywood scene. By beginning to observe herself from the outside, she creates a parallel reality as an apparent way out, which she superimposes on her life, where all her longings are satisfied – an understanding father, a loving husband, self-determination, in short: fulfilment. However, temporary and above all, not real. In the end she would have to return to her real life, where she was quickly replaced as a wife by her sister Ino, because she could not fulfil the role assigned to her here. Semele, physically present, will psychologically not find the way back to reality. Her mind will glow through. She’s moved too far from normality. The rigid expectations of her as an individual coincided too little with her own will. This basic conflict of Semele was embedded by William Congreve and George Frideric Handel from Ovid's Metamorphoses into the narrative structures common to baroque opera. Today it might also be a perspective on the constricting power of the bourgeois corset.

Composer Georg Friedrich Händel. Libretto from William Congreve.

Opera after the manner of an oratorio (1743)

recommended from 15 years

A co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York

In English language. With surtitles in German and English language. New Production.

Duration est. 0 hours 55 minutes

Introductions for Semele will take place on 7/18, 7/20, 7/22, 7/25/23, 1 hour before each performance in the Prinzregententheater's Gartensaal.
Please note: Limited seating available, duration approx. 20 min.

Cast

Cast

Conductor: Leonardo García Alarcón

Director: Claus Guth

Stage Designer: Michael Levine

Costume Designer: Gesine Völlm

Lighting: Michael Bauer

Video: rocafilm

Choreographer: Ramses Sigl

Chorus: Franz Obermair

Dramaturge: Christopher Warmuth, Yvonne Gebauer

Semele: Louise Alder

Jupiter: Michael Spyres

Apollo: Michael Butler

Athamas: Jakub Józef Orliński

Juno: Marina Viotti

Ino: Avery Amereau

Iris: Jessica Niles

Cadmus/Somnus: Sam Carl

Hohepriester: Roman Chabaranok

Bayerisches Staatsorchester

Chorus of the Bayerische Staatsoper

Venue
National Theatre Munich

The National Theatre Munich (German: Nationaltheater München) is an opera house in Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, Germany. It is the home of the Bavarian State Opera and the Bayerisches Staatsballett(Bavarian State Ballet).

 

The Bavarian State Opera also performs in the Prinzregententheater, which opened in 1901 and, like the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, is built to Richard Wagner's specifications, and in the Cuvilliés Theatre at the Residenz, constructed in 1751–1753 and described by Thierry Beauvert as "a Rococo gem".

 

The Nationaltheater is very easy to get to both by car and by MVV public transportation. 



By MVV public transportation

S-Bahn: S 1 - 8 Marienplatz
U-Bahn: U 3, 6 Marienplatz, U 3 - 6 Odeonsplatz
Bus: 52, 131 Marienplatz, 100 Odeonsplatz
Straßenbahn: 19 Nationaltheater

On the day of the performance, holders of regular tickets are entitled to use public transport provided by the Münchner Verkehrsverbund (MVV). This service starts at 3 pm respectively three hours before the performance commences and ends with the closing hour of the MVV.



By Car

Take the Altstadt-Ring to Maximilianstraße.

Parking garage Max-Joseph-Platz: open Monday to Sunday from 6:00 A.M. to 2:00 A.M.

You can take advantage of the special theatre parking fee of Euro 10,- from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M. by presenting your admission tickets.

Accomodation

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