Karl-Magnus Fredriksson

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.

A guileless Japanese girl gives up everything to marry a lieutenant in the US Navy. But when he suddenly leaves the country, she is determined to wait patiently until he sails back into harbour. The last of Puccini’s ‘big three’ operas, Madama Butterfly is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian sings the title role in this colourful production from the Royal Swedish Opera set amongst the glitz and kitsch of postwar Japan.