Vienna Opera Tickets

From authors to composers, playwrights to filmmakers, it seems that few who are compelled to create great art can resist the allure of The Tempest. Thomas Adès, the contemporary British composer, has himself revealed that once he had chanced upon basing an opera on the play, he simply could not get the idea out of his head.

Given the number of musical references, even songs, which Shakespeare weaved into his original, the Bard clearly left the door open to musicians to produce their own perfect storm. But perhaps of even greater appeal is the magic harnessed by the play’s central character. Prospero becomes the orchestrator of events and the principal architect in resolving the drama that unfolds, just as composers, librettists and designers bring together the various elements at their command to create great musical theatre.

Prospero is the unjustly deposed Duke of Milan, stranded on a deserted island by his own brother, Antonio, in collusion with King Alonso of Naples. Using his understanding of sorcery to whip up the seas, he forces those who have exiled him and his daughter Miranda to disembark on the island so that they may atone for their betrayal.

First performed at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, the critical reaction to the premiere of The Tempest on 10 February 2004 was so positive that comparisons with Adès’ famous predecessor and compatriot, Benjamin Britten, were inescapable.

However, Adès has a distinct voice of his own: an ineffable capacity for wresting something new out of the familiar. Now the stage is set for Adès’ mastery of voice, instrumentation and tonal landscapes to fill the hall of the Wiener Staatsoper.