Giuseppe Verdi’s opera in three acts, based on Victor Hugo’s “Le Roi s’amuse”, was a sensational success following its premiere on the lake in 2019. Giuseppe Verdi’s gory but spectacular masterpiece is being presented on the Bregenz stage for the very first time.

Director and stage designer Philipp Stölzl succeeds in emphasising in his interpretation Verdi’s gift of combining the spectacular with the intimate.

Set on the breathtaking “floating” stage in Bregenz Bay on Lake Constance, the comical goings-on at the banquet, the daring abduction and the terrifying storm in the night provide a stark contrast to the intimate scenes between father and daughter, and between Gilda and the duke.