Along with the young singers of the Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Director and Grimme Award winner Axel Ranisch presents an unusual approach to two rarely...

Along with the young singers of the Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Director and Grimme Award winner Axel Ranisch presents an unusual approach to two rarely performed works: In Peter I. Tchaikovsky’s last opera Iolanta, a blind princess is in search of reasons for her sadness and finds love. In Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical one act opera buffa Mavra, an inventive young woman decides to act on a risky idea and smuggle her lover into her mother’s house disguised as a cook. Through his immense love of his characters and impressive affinity for the relationships between them, Ranisch weaves both works into a magical coming of age fairy tale of family, love, realisation and self determination: Mavra and Iolanta become Mavra / Iolanta. Alevtina Ioffe in the conductor’s stand for the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and a magnificent ensemble of the Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper create a breath takingly electric atmosphere in which the intimate lyrical moments and the great romantic arcs of Tchaikovsky shine as much as the relational, musical comedy of the neoclassical Stravinsky sparkles.