Nussknacker und Mausekönig Tickets

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland

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At the moment, no Nussknacker und Mausekönig events are scheduled in Zurich Opera House. Click here to check out the current Zurich Opera House events.

Important Info

Type: Ballet

City: Zurich, Switzerland

Duration: 2h 15min with 1 interval

Intervals: 1

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Choose the date to see the peformers

Overview

Featuring Piotr Tchaikovsky’s catchy music, The Nutcracker is one of the most popular works in the ballet repertoire. The plot is based on a fairy tale by the Romantic author E.T.A. Hoffmann. In conventional choreographies, however, this is only apparent in a very simplified, smoothened form. In his acclaimed version for the Ballett Zürich, Christian Spuck returns to the darkly romantic fantasy inherent to the original version of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story. The choreographer has reintegrated the convoluted internal episodes and flashbacks into the plot and, for example, also tells the tale of hard nut, Krakatuk, in which E.T.A. Hoffmann explains the history of the Nutcracker Prince, who has stiffened into a wooden doll. This is usually omitted from the ballet.

Furthermore, in order to develop a compelling narrative thread, Christian Spuck has broken down Tchaikovsky’s music into its constituent parts and recombined them in a completely new way, placing them in altered dramatic contexts and altering their mood. A harmless Christmas ballet thus becomes a puzzle that masterfully jumps back and forth between several levels of reality, merges reality with imagination, and introduces other Hoffmann figures to the action, such as the wicked Frau Mauserinks and Princess Pirlipat, who has in the meantime been turned into an ugly nut monster. The poetically fantastical production was not only acclaimed at the Opernhaus Zürich, but also enthusiastically received at a guest performance given by the Ballett Zürich at Moscow’s legendary Bolshoi Theatre.

History

"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (German: Nussknacker und Mausekönig) is a story written in 1816 by Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which young Marie Stahlbaum's favourite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls. In 1892, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned Alexandre Dumas's adaptation of the story into the ballet The Nutcracker.

Venue Info

Zurich Opera House - Zurich
Sechseläutenplatz 1

Zürich Opera House is a main opera house in Zürich and Switzerland. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to the Zürich Ballet. The Opera House also holds concerts by its Philharmonia orchestra, matinees, Lieder evenings and events for children. The Zürich Opera Ball is organised every year in March, and is usually attended by prominent names.

The first permanent theatre, the Aktientheater, was built in 1834 and it became the focus of Richard Wagner’s activities during his period of exile from Germany.

The Aktientheater burnt down in 1890. The new Stadttheater Zürich (municipal theatre) was built by the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, who changed their previous design for the theatre in Wiesbaden only slightly. It was opened in 1891. It was the city's main performance space for drama, opera, and musical events until 1925, when it was renamed Opernhaus Zürich and a separate theatre for plays was built: The Bernhard Theater opened in 1941, in May 1981 the Esplanada building was demolished, and the present adjoint building opened on 27/28 December 1984 after three years of transition in the Kaufhaus building nearby Schanzengraben.

By the 1970s, the opera house was badly in need of major renovations; when some considered it not worth restoring, a new theatre was proposed for the site. However, between 1982 and 1984, rebuilding took place but not without huge local opposition which was expressed in street riots. The rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekhov opera Der Kirschgarten.

As restored, the theatre is an ornate building with a neo-classical façade of white and grey stone adorned with busts of Weber, Wagner, and Mozart. Additionally, busts of Schiller, Shakespeare, and Goethe are to be found. The auditorium is built in the neo-rococo style and seats approximately 1200 people. During the refurbishment, the issue of sightlines was not adequately addressed. As a result, the theatre has a high number of seats with a limited view, or no view, of the stage. This is unusual in international comparison, where sightlines in historic opera houses have been typically enhanced over time.

Corporate archives and historical library collections are held at the music department of the Predigerkirche Zürich.

The Zürich Opera House is also home of the International Opera Studio (in German: Internationales Opernstudio IOS) which is a educational program for young singers and pianists. The studio was created in 1961 and has renowned artists currently teaching such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbender, Andreas Homocki, Rosemary Joshua, Adrian Kelly, Fabio Luisi, Jetske Mijnssen, Ann Murray, Eytan Pessen or Edith Wiens.