Vienna State Opera tickets 21 June 2025 - The Queen of Spades with Anna Netrebko | GoComGo.com

The Queen of Spades with Anna Netrebko

Vienna State Opera, Main Stage, Vienna, Austria
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7 PM
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US$ 187

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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).

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 1
Duration: 3h 20min

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.

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
Soprano: Anna Netrebko (Liza)
Baritone: Alexey Markov (Count Tomsky)
Baritone: Boris Pinkhasovich (Prince Yeletsky)
Mezzo-Soprano: Elena Zaremba (Countess)
Conductor: Timur Zangiev
Tenor: Yusif Eyvazov (Herman)
Creators
Composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Poet: Alexander Pushkin
Librettist: Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Director: Vera Nemirova
Overview

Director Vera Nemirova shifts the action to the period just after the fall of communism in the 1990s.

In her production, she wanted to show a social background in which, on the one hand, there is immense wealth behind baroque facades in Russia and, on the other, the misery of the poor sections of the population: Casinos next to soup kitchens, homeless people and street children next to the nouveau riche. The protagonists are embedded in these contrasts, which can turn anyone into a criminal - just like the main character Hermann.

Tchaikovsky was not exactly self-confident. But in the case of Queen of Spades, he was more than convinced of its quality - and so he wrote just before finishing the composition: "Either I am in a terrible error, or Queen of Spades really is my chief dʼOeuvre".

The premiere on 19 December 1890 at the Marinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg was a resounding success, the scenic design was of the greatest splendor for the theater of the time and the opera's intermezzo was choreographed by none other than Marius Petipa. The Tsar was present at the dress rehearsal and the composer was presented with a silver wreath during the interval of the first performance and a laurel lyre at the end.

Short Summary
Three, seven and ace - with these three supposedly infallible cards, revealed to him by the ghost of the dead countess in a feverish vision, the outsider Hermann wants to win the big prize at the card game. At this point, however, he no longer wants the money to marry his former lover Lisa, but is hopelessly addicted to gambling. Based on a story by Puškin, /Pique Dame/ deals with a destructive loneliness resulting from social exclusion, to which the Countess, Lisa and Hermann himself fall victim.

History
Premiere of this production: 29 March 1890, Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg

The Queen of Spades is an opera in three acts (seven scenes) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, but with a dramatically altered plot. The premiere took place in 1890 in St. Petersburg (at the Mariinsky Theatre), Russia.

Synopsis

Act 1

Governesses are busy looking after the children entrusted to their care. Checkalinsky and Tsurin discuss the behavior of Herman, a morose outsider who sits brooding in the casino without taking part in the card games. Herman tells his friend Tomsky the reason for his anguish: he is in love with a woman whose name he does not even know, but whom he can never marry because of her noble birth. When Yeletsky introduces his fiancée Lisa, who is accompanies by the Countess, Herman recognizes Lisa as his as yet unknown love. The two women are bewildered by Herman’s strange, yet passionate gaze. Tomsky explains that the Countess was known for her exquisite beauty in her youth. After losing at the card tables, the Countess discovered the secret of the three lucky cards which enabled her to win back her fortune. But the price was high: a rendezvous with a certain Count Saint-German. However, the Countess was also told that one day a man driven by passion and love would force her to reveal the secret of the three cards, and that he would also be the cause of her death. Herman is fascinated by the tale and resolves to solve the riddle, hoping to win both his love and his fortune. On the evening of Lisa’s engagement, a group of her close friends have gathered to bid her farewell. Pauline sings Lisa’s wistful love song. That night, Lisa confesses her love for Herman. When he enters her room, Herman and Lisa reveal their passion for one another. Awoken by the noise, the Countess appears and gives Lisa a stern warning. Herman’s interest in the mysterious Countess is aroused once more.

Act 2

Yeletzky is celebrating his engagement to Lisa at the palace of the Countess. However, he is disconcerted by Lisa’s coldness towards him. Once again he confesses his love to her. Lisa furtively slips Herman the key to a secret door, instructing him to come to her bedroom that night. However, to do so he must pass the room of the Countess. The Countess is immersed in her memories until she notices Herman. She realizes that this is the man driven by love to discover her secret of the three cards. And indeed, he begs her to reveal her secret to him. However, the Countess dies in the course of this tumultuous encounter. At this moment, Lisa appears and curses Herman. Having failed to find out about the three cards, Herman is despondent. 

Act 3

Herman is reading a letter from Lisa in which she asks him to talk things over with her. At the funeral of the Countess, Herman breaks down at the sight of her coffin. He hears the voice of the dead Countess naming the three cards: the three, the seven, and the ace. Lisa is waiting for Herman. When he finally arrives, to her great displeasure, he is still obsessed only by his passion for the cards. She sees only one way out of this situation: death. At the casino, Yeletzki is bent on taking his revenge on Herman because of Lisa. Herman finally tries his luck at the card table, winning a fabulous sum of money with the first two cards. He then stakes his entire fortune on the third and final game. However, his third card is not the ace as he expected, but the Queen of Spades. Herman loses not only the game, but also his life.

Time: The close of the 18th century

Place: St. Petersburg, Russia

Act 1

Scene 1

During the reign of Catherine the Great (1762–96), children are at play in St. Petersburg's Summer Garden pretending to be soldiers. Two officers — Tsurin and Chekalinsky — enter, the former complaining about his bad luck at gambling. They remark that another officer, Herman, seems obsessed with the gaming table but never bets, being frugal and methodical. Herman appears with Tomsky, who remarks that his friend hardly seems like his old self: is anything bothering him? Herman admits he is in love with a girl above his station whose name he does not even know. When Prince Yeletsky, an officer, strolls into the park, Chekalinsky congratulates him on his recent engagement. Yeletsky declares his happiness while Herman, aside, curses him enviously. Yeletsky points out his fiancée, Liza, who has just appeared with her grandmother, the old Countess. Catching sight of Herman, the two women note they have seen him before, staring at them with frightening intensity. Herman realizes that Liza is his unknown beloved. When Yeletsky and the women leave, Herman is lost in thought as the other officers discuss the Countess: known as the Queen of Spades and formerly as the Muscovite Venus, due to her beauty, she succeeded at gambling in her youth by trading amorous favors for the winning formula of Count St. Germain in Paris. Tomsky says only two men, her husband and, later on, her young lover, ever learned the secret of playing three special cards, because she was warned by an apparition to beware a "third suitor" who would kill her trying to force it from her. Musing on the winning sequence of three cards, the others lightly suggest that this might be the way for Herman to win without risking any money. Threatened by approaching thunder, all leave except Herman, who vows to learn the Countess's secret.

Scene 2

At home, Liza plays the spinet as she and her friend Pauline sing a duet about evening in the countryside. Their girlfriends ask to hear more, so Pauline launches into a sad ballad, followed by a dancelike song. As the merriment increases, Liza remains pensively apart. A Governess chides the girls for indulging in unbecoming folk dancing and asks the visitors to leave. Pauline, the last to go, urges Liza to cheer up; Liza replies that after a storm there is a beautiful night and asks the maid, Masha, not to close the French windows to the balcony. Alone, Liza voices her unhappiness with her engagement; she has been stirred by the romantic look of the young man in the park. To her shock, Herman appears on the balcony. Claiming he is about to shoot himself over her betrothal to another, he begs her to take pity on him. When the Countess is heard knocking, Liza hides Herman and opens the door to the old woman, who tells her to shut the windows and go to bed. After the Countess retires, Liza asks Herman to leave but is betrayed by her feelings and falls into his embrace.

Act 2

Scene 1

Not long afterward, at a masked ball, Herman's comrades comment on his obsession with the secret of the winning cards. Yeletsky passes with Liza, noting her sadness and reassuring her of his love ("Ya vas lyublyu" "I love you"). Herman receives a note from Liza, asking him to meet her later. Tsurin and Chekalinsky sneak up behind him with the intent of playing a joke on him, muttering he is the "third suitor" who will learn the Countess's secret, then melt into the crowd as Herman wonders whether he is hearing things. The master of ceremonies announces a tableau of shepherdesses. Liza slips Herman the key to her grandmother's room, saying the old woman will not be there the next day, but Herman insists on coming that very night. Thinking fate is handing him the Countess's secret, he leaves. The guests' attention turns to the imminent arrival of Catherine the Great, for which a polonaise by Osip Kozlovsky is played and sung in greeting.

Scene 2

Herman slips into the Countess's room and looks in fascination at her portrait as the "Muscovite Venus"; musing how their fates, he feels, are linked: one of them will die because of the other. He lingers too long before he can go to Liza's room and hears the Countess's retinue coming, so he conceals himself as the old lady approaches. The Countess deplores the manners of the day and reminisces about the better times of her youth, when she sang in Versailles "Je crains de lui parler la nuit" (Laurette's Aria) from André Grétry's opera Richard Cœur-de-Lion before the Pompadour herself. As she dozes off, Herman stands before her. She awakens in horror as he pleads with her to tell him her secret. When she remains speechless, he grows desperate and threatens her with a pistol — at which she dies of fright. Liza rushes in, only to learn that the lover to whom she gave her heart was more interested in the Countess's secret. She orders him out and falls sobbing.

Act 3

Scene 1

In his room at the barracks, as the winter wind howls, Herman reads a letter from Liza, who wants him to meet her at midnight by the river bank. He imagines he hears the chorus chanting at the old Countess's funeral, then is startled by a knock at the window. The old woman's ghost appears, announcing that against her will she must tell him the secret so that he can marry and save Liza. Dazed, Herman repeats the three cards she tells him — three, seven, ace.

Scene 2

By the Winter Canal, Liza waits for Herman: it is already near midnight, and though she clings to a forlorn hope that he still loves her, she sees her youth and happiness swallowed in darkness. At last he appears, but after uttering words of reassurance, he starts to babble wildly about the Countess and her secret. No longer even recognizing Liza, he rushes away. Realizing that all is lost, she commits suicide.

Scene 3

At a gambling house, Herman's fellow officers are finishing supper and getting ready to play faro. Yeletsky, who has not gambled before, joins the group because his engagement has been broken: "unlucky in love, lucky at cards". Tomsky entertains the others with a song. Then Chekalinsky leads a traditional gamblers' song. Settling down to play, they are surprised when Herman arrives, wild and distracted. Yeletsky senses a confrontation and asks Tomsky to be his second if a duel should result. Herman, intent only on betting, starts with a huge bet of 40,000 rubles. He bets the three and wins, upsetting the others with his maniacal expression. Next he bets the seven and wins again. At this he takes a wine glass and declares that life is but a game. Yeletsky accepts his challenge to bet on the next round. Herman bets everything he has on the ace but when he shows his card he is told he is holding the queen of spades. Seeing the Countess's ghost laughing at her vengeance, Herman takes his own life and asks Yeletsky's and Liza's forgiveness. The others pray for his tormented soul.

Venue Info

Vienna State Opera - Vienna
Location   Opernring 2

The Vienna State Opera is one of the leading opera houses in the world. Its past is steeped in tradition. Its present is alive with richly varied performances and events. Each season, the schedule features 350 performances of more than 60 different operas and ballets. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from the Vienna State Opera's orchestra. The building is also the home of the Vienna State Ballet, and it hosts the annual Vienna Opera Ball during the carnival season.

The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, and designs by Josef Hlávka. The opera house was inaugurated as the "Vienna Court Opera" (Wiener Hofoper) in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It became known by its current name after the establishment of the First Austrian Republic in 1921. The Vienna State Opera is the successor of the Vienna Court Opera, the original construction site chosen and paid for by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1861.

The opera house was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstrasse commissioned by the Viennese "city expansion fund". Work commenced on the house in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the renowned Czech architect and contractor Josef Hlávka.

Gustav Mahler was one of the many conductors who have worked in Vienna. During his tenure (1897–1907), Mahler cultivated a new generation of singers, such as Anna Bahr-Mildenburg and Selma Kurz, and recruited a stage designer who replaced the lavish historical stage decors with sparse stage scenery corresponding to modernistic, Jugendstil tastes. Mahler also introduced the practice of dimming the lighting in the theatre during performances, which was initially not appreciated by the audience. However, Mahler's reforms were maintained by his successors.

Herbert von Karajan introduced the practice of performing operas exclusively in their original language instead of being translated into German. He also strengthened the ensemble and regular principal singers and introduced the policy of predominantly engaging guest singers. He began a collaboration with La Scala in Milan, in which both productions and orchestrations were shared. This created an opening for the prominent members of the Viennese ensemble to appear in Milan, especially to perform works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss.

Ballet companies merge

At the beginning of the 2005–2006 season, the ballet companies of the Staatsoper and the Vienna Volksoper were merged under the direction of Gyula Harangozó.

From the 2010–2011 season a new company was formed called Wiener Staatsballet, Vienna State Ballet, under the direction of former Paris Opera Ballet principal dancer Manuel Legris. Legris eliminated Harangozós's policy of presenting nothing but traditional narrative ballets with guest artists in the leading roles, concentrated on establishing a strong in-house ensemble and restored evenings of mixed bill programs, featuring works of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, and many contemporary choreographers, as well as a reduced schedule of the classic ballets.

Opera ball

For many decades, the opera house has been the venue of the Vienna Opera Ball. It is an internationally renowned event, which takes place annually on the last Thursday in Fasching. Those in attendance often include visitors from around the world, especially prominent names in business and politics. The opera ball receives media coverage from a range of outlets.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Vienna, Austria
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 1
Duration: 3h 20min
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