Simon Boccanegra

Intrigue, family tragedies, power struggles – these words aptly describe Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Simon Boccanegra”. And the opera is somehow frighteningly topical: in this piece with only one female role, the men write history and the women are the victims. The world premiere flopped, but almost 25 years later the opera received thunderous applause at a new performance in Milan’s La Scala. Andreas Homoki has staged this second and revised version at the Zurich Opera House. Its premiere was one of the last conducted by outgoing music director Fabio Luisi and Christian Gerhaher’s much-lauded role debut as Simon Boccanegra.