Hanna Husáhr

In a stuffy provincial town, a passionate and idealistic poet accompanies a dutiful young lady to a ball. He falls madly in love with her - but she is already engaged to another. Bergen National Opera presents Massenet’s great opera in a new production directed and designed by Antony McDonald. The Lithuanian tenor Edgaras Montvidas sings the title role - regarded as one of the most poetic and expressive in the French repertoire - alongside Cardiff Singer of the World 2017 competition winner Catriona Morison as Charlotte.

The Promise (Löftet in Swedish) is the story of Ava who becomes separated from her husband, Teo, in a concentration camp. Determined to be reunited with her husband after the war, she travels through the ruins of a traumatised Europe in search of him. We accompany her on a journey that sways between dream and reality, hope and despair. 27th January is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Royal Swedish Opera pays tribute to the victims in a new comission from composer Mats Larsson Gothe. The world premiere happens on this day and live on OperaVision. It is a story about the invincible power of love seventy-six years after the liberation of Auschwitz. ‘We find ourselves in a time outside time, as the victims of war take their first uncertain steps towards reclaiming their humanity’, says librettist Susanne Marko, who was inspired by her own family history.