Don Carlos

Don Carlos, the son of King Philip II of Spain, has decided to go his own way, both politically and in his private life. When his father forces him to give up his love for Elizabeth of Valois, he decides to dedicate his life to Flanders’ struggle for freedom against his father, the Spanish occupier. So this opera has a lot to do with the history of Flanders. At the auto-da-fé, Flemish envoys demonstrate against the repression by the Spanish Inquisition, together with Don Carlos.

Verdi based his Don Carlos on Schiller’s play of the same title; he initially wrote the work as a grand opéra for Paris, revised it several times and in the end translated it into Italian. In a pioneering production for the Wiener Staatsoper, the leading contemporary opera director Peter Konwitschny staged the original French version Don Carlos once again, the five-act work whose world premiere took place in Paris. This version is now coming to Belgium for the first time and is also the first piece to be directed by Konwitschny in this country. It will be a gripping production that combines the historical with the contemporary and also involves the audiences directly in the performance. With its large cast of numerous extras and a chorus of 80, this prestigious production conducted by the Verdi specialist Alexander Joel will bring fresh life to the original Don Carlos.