HCM CITY — The operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Austrian composer Johann Strauss II will be staged at the HCM City Opera House on Sunday (October 28).

The Bat, set in Vienna in the 19th century, centres on Dr Falke’s plan to take revenge on his friend Eisenstein, who left him at a park after a costume party. 

Strauss composed the operetta to a German libretto written by German dramatist Karl Haffner and author and composer Richard Genée.

The work premiered in 1874 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

Directed by German stage director David Hermann, The Bat was first staged in HCM City during the Autumn Melody Festival last August, the biggest event featuring classical arts in HCM City.

It received a warm welcome from critics and local and foreign audiences.

Hermann, who studied at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, won first prize at the International Competition of Staging and Stage Design in Graz, Austria in 2000.

He was nominated as best director at the 2018 International Opera Awards in London for his Krenek Trioly at Opera Frankfurt, winning in the category “Rediscovered Work of the Year.”

He has directed numerous classical and modern operas such as The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute by Mozart, Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake) by Arthur Honegger and L’heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour) by Maurice Ravel.

He has produced two other operas in Việt Nam, including The Magic Flute by Mozart and Der Freischutz (The Maskman) by Carl Maria von Weber.

The Vietnamese version of The Bat will feature songs in German and Vietnamese.

It will star Đào Mác as Dr Falke and Phan Hữu Trung Kiệt as Eisenstein, performing with the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO).

Trần Nhật Minh, who earned a master’s degree in chorus conducting at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russa, will be the conductor.

The costumes are designed by famous Vietnamese designer Quỳnh Paris, who has presented collections at fashion weeks in Việt Nam, New York and Los Angeles.

The show will begin at 8 pm at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Tickets are available at the venue and at www.tickebox.vn. — VNS