Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Belmonte’s lover Constanze is being held captive by Pasha Selim. If Belmonte is going to rescue Constanze he will have to get past the Pasha’s steward Osmin first. This may not necessarily sound like the premise of a comedy but The Abduction from the Seraglio is one of Mozart’s wittiest and most delightful creations.

The joyous overture suggests a boisterous sense of fun, which is carried right through to the final curtain with stratospheric arias and blissful ensembles along the way. Rinaldo Alessandrini, known to WNO audiences for his interpretations of Monteverdi, returns to conduct this glorious comedy.
 
James Robinson’s stylish production is irresistibly entertaining, setting the opera on the Orient Express of the 1920s en route from Paris to Istanbul.