Die Fledermaus

Don Pasquale

LA Boheme Giacomo Puccini

Thought to be Puccini`s greatest Tragic-Comic opera and perhaps the greatest opera of them all. The tunes have entered into our culture and the story has entranced and mesmorised us for generations. Who cannot be moved by the story of the beautiful but poor and ill seamstress who falls in love with a young idealistic but penniless poet?

La Traviata

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Verdi’s La Traviata, where passion leads to betrayal, beauty to corruption and appearances are often deceiving. Violetta Valèry, the most beautiful woman in Paris, is also the most famous courtesan. To stop herself falling into a world of poverty, she must sell herself, falling instead into a world of frivolity, jewels and flowers. A world of shimmering artifice that veils a less beguiling core. Liberated by her intense passion for Alfredo, they retreat to the country and create an idyllic world for themselves, built on their joyful and truthful discovery of each other. But love cannot keep the real world away. The harsh realities of respectability, morality and disease rear their ugly heads, and Violetta cannot escape for long. La Traviata exposes the dark side of the whirl of champagne and camellias, revealing the thorns that appear if you choose to sleep in a bed of roses. Verdi’s music is seductive and lush, containing some of the most beautiful and resonant melodies in opera, such as “Libiamo” the drinking song, “Sempre Libera” and “Di Provenza”. La Traviata provides an emotional and intimately romantic evening’s entertainment, and is perfectly suited to complement a gala dinner, whether in an elegant ballroom or in a luxuriant garden. echo’s production is exquisitely designed and provides a piquant visual experience as well as singing of exceptional quality.

The Merry Widow

The Merry Widow takes place in Paris and concerns the desperate bid on the part of the Pontevedrian embassy staff to save the ailing economy of their country. Anna, the merry widow of the title, has inherited 20 million Proubles after the death of her Pontevedrian millionaire husband Glavari. This naturally makes her an eminently marriageable proposition, and her entry on the scene in Paris sees her followed by a host of eager Parisian suitors. The Pontevedrian ambassador, however, has received instructions from his foreign minister that the balance of payments of his country entirely depends on the Glavari fortune, and that Anna must therefore marry a Pontevedrian. The ambassador's choice falls not unnaturally on his embassy secretary, the attractive Count Danilo, whose name has been romantically linked with that of Anna in the past The flames of this romance are far from dead, but Danilo is a pleasure-loving fellow, preferring the attractions of the Parisian nightlife to his desk at the embassy, and any call on his sense of national duty is likely to fall on deaf ears. Besides, both Anna and Danilo have their pride to look after, and cannot possibly allow themselves to capitulate to each other's irresistible charm without a brave struggle for independence…