Der Graf von Gleichen

Presented by Lyster Opera

A crusader taken captive. A sultan's daughter who risks everything for his freedom. A countess waiting at home, still hoping. What happens when they all meet again?

In 1827, Franz Schubert began an opera based on a famous German legend so daring that Viennese censors banned the libretto. He died the following year with the work unfinished, and it has rarely been heard since. Now, in Richard Dünser's completion of Schubert's manuscript, you can hear this hidden gem live, with orchestra.

A Rare Schubert Opera.

Seldom staged anywhere in the world, and a chance to hear the composer's late style in a form most audiences have never encountered.

Count Ernst von Gleichen, a Crusader held captive in the Sultan's palace in Cairo, secretly grows a rare crimson rose for the Sultan's daughter, Suleika, who takes it as a declaration of love. When her father pressures her to marry a foreign prince, she asks for the Christian slaves to be freed as her birthday gift and she sails away with the Count, converting to Christianity on the voyage. Only then does he confess that he has a wife waiting in Germany. In Rome, the Pope grants a dispensation for a second marriage, on one condition: the Countess Ottilie must freely agree. Back at Castle Gleichen, she must decide whether she can welcome the woman who saved her husband.

Creative Team

• Musical Director: Geoff Urquhart

• Narrator: Rachel Buckley

• Director: Daniel Sinfield

Cast

• Der Graf von Gleichen: Henry Shaw

• Suleika: Danielle Vita

• Die Gräfin von Gleichen: Teresa Ingrilli

• Fatime: Adelaide Soccio Greenaway

• Kurt: Nick Sheppard

• Susanne and A Lady: Helen Koehne

• The Sultan and Burgvogt: Archie Rumsam

• Hassan and King #3: Michael Zuccala

• King #1 and A Slave: Paul Batey

• King #2: Alister Lamont

Cast and creative team subject to change.