Don Pasquale

Basically, Don Pasquale is an immensely unsympathetic character. He is so rich and at the same time so stingy that everything in life annoys him, or worse: bores him. But the fact that his nephew (and designated heir) Ernesto wants to marry out of wedlock awakens Pasquale's spirits. Even as a confirmed bachelor, he decides to take a young bride and bring children into the world, just so he doesn't have to bequeath anything to Ernesto. However, he has not reckoned with his nephew and his mistress Norina, who immediately spins an intrigue together with the shady doctor Malatesta and ruthlessly puts Ernesto's love at risk.

In Gaetano Donizetti's almost endless operatic oeuvre, Don Pasquale is a shining example of the composer's sparkling, yet ambiguously shrewd humor and at the same time a sparkling bel canto opera in its purest form. Comedy specialist Matthias Rippert will be directing the opera for the first time.