Helena Rasker

Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion resonate with the humanity, hope and light that permeate Johann Sebastian Bach's most beautiful sacred scores. A concert full of emotion.

This is the Ring cycle of the Dutch National Opera, directed by Pierre Audi. Fleeing for his life, Siegmund seeks shelter at Sieglinde's house. Her husband Hunding happens to be one of Siegmund's pursuers, and the two of them must cross swords the next day. As Siegmund laments his lack of a weapon, Sieglinde directs him to the sword Nothung stuck in an ash tree. Despite discovering they are twin siblings, the two fall in love. The King of Gods Wotan, their father, sends his Valkyrie daughter Brünnhilde to aid Siegmund. Fricka protests, and Wotan uses his spear to break Siegmund's sword during the battle. Siegmund is slain, but Brünnhilde rescues both the sword fragments and Sieglinde who is pregnant with Siegmund's child Siegfried. Wotan is angry that she intervened, but since Brünnhilde is his favorite child, he merely strips her of immortality and sends her into an enchanted sleep, surrounded by fire.

Trapped in an unhappy marriage, a woman mourns the devastation of the forest around her. An unexpected affair instigates an explosive metamorphosis, and she finds perfect release as a tree. But the world is a dangerous place for trees, and deep in the forest a forester and a student lay claim to a body of wood and leaf - one for money and one for love. A subversion of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Like flesh is the fruit of a collaboration between a group of committed young artists. The Israeli composer Sivan Eldar creates an intriguing sound world by combining orchestral and electro-acoustic music. The British playwright Cordelia Lynn is already well known in English theatre circles for, among other things, her collaboration with Katie Mitchell to re-stage The Tempest.