In this modern take on Mozart’s The Opera Director (Der Schauspieldirektor), two sopranos are in the most unpleasant of situations: an audition for the opera director. As nerves are running high, the coloratura runs higher. Mozart himself observes, relates his own irritations with the opera directors of his day – and then the music starts, the two worlds collide, and the transcendent power of opera wins the day.

Mozart wrote this short opera at the same time as The Marriage of Figaro. The Austrian Emperor commissioned it to impress foreign dignitaries and 80 invited guests at his palace in Schönbrunn. Mozart’s rival Salieri also wrote an opera for this occasion, and the cast for The Opera Director included both Salieri’s mistress and Mozart’s own first great love. Rivalry was in the air both on-stage and off…

Sung in German with English surtitles. English dialogue by Caroline Staunton and Arthur Riordan.