27 & 30 Jan 2009

19.30, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD; Box Office: 020 7304 4000
Tickets: £5-£144
Also performing on 2, 5, 11, and 13 February 2009.

With ‘Die tote Stadt’, The Royal Opera presents a rediscovered masterpiece in its Royal Opera House and UK premiere. Although Erich Korngold became famous through the rich symphonic sounds of his great Hollywood film scores, his early gem of an opera from 1920 was a huge success before he went to America, yet until recently has been mostly neglected. The story follows the sometimes-real and sometimes-imagined world of Paul, locked in the grip of memories of his dead wife Marie. Marietta, a young woman who resembles Marie in looks but certainly not character, offers the chance for Paul to break free from his obsession with the past and return to his own life and a future. Making this even more of a special occasion, Ingo Metzmacher, a leading interpreter of 20th-century opera, conducts a score that is as ravishing as it is engrossing.

Born in Bucharest, soprano Simona Mihai studied first at the Academy of Music in her home town, then continued her studies at the Royal College of Music in London and the Benjamin Britten International Opera School, with Kathleen Livingstone, as a Queen Mother Scholar. In 2005, she made her Italian operatic debut at Teatro Massimo, Palermo. Simona has performed at the Royal Opera House, Royal Danish Theatre, as well as other prestigious stages. During summer 2008, Simona appeared as Virtue, in Glydenbourne’s production of ‘The Coronation of Poppea’.

While studying in London, Simona Mihai was supported by the Ratiu Foundation

Details on www.roh.org.uk