Tourism portal of the Capital Schwerin

Schwerin's Open Air Opera Festival

presented by the State Theatre of Mecklenburg

More than 10 years ago the OPEN AIR OPERA CASTLE FESTIVAL (Schlossfestspiele) Schwerin celebrated its grand premiere with Verdi’s „Aida“, one of the most spectacular performances in the history of this event. Ever since, visitors have been enchanted by this festival on the Alter Garten Square, featuring highlights like „Nabucco“, „La Traviata“ and „Rigoletto“. As the grand finale of the summer theatre season 2010, the Schwerin State Theatre presents Giuseppe Verdis opera: THE FORCE OF DESTINY - La forza del destino (German: DIE MACHT DES SCHICKSALS).
Against the magical backdrop of the Palace, the singers’ voices will rise to the stars and be transported into the night sky. No person in the audience can fail to partake in the emotional triumph staged in this beautiful city.

Opera beneath the stars, situated on one of Germany’s most beautiful squares, has long become the trademark of SCHWERIN’S OPEN AIR OPERA FESTIVAL. It started off as an insider’s tip among opera lovers more than 15 years ago and has now evolved into a festival that is internationally renowned. At the centre of a triangle of cities including Berlin, Hamburg and Rostock, which are no more than a two hours’ drive away, both guests and residents are captivated by SCHWERIN'S CASTLE FESTIVAL.


Giuseppe Verdi
THE FORCE OF DESTINY - La forza del destino

Top-rate stagings, international soloists, a huge chorus and Schwerin’s tradition-rich Mecklenburg State Orchestra are the outstanding features of the SCHWERIN’s CASTLE FESTVAL (SCHLOSSFESTSPIELE SCHWERIN) that the Mecklenburg State Theatre has held since 1993 at an atmospheric open square in front of the city’s romantic castle.

In 2010, the CASTLE FESTIVAL will present Verdi’s melody-rich opera THE FORCE OF DESTINY (La forza del destino). This work is rich in lovely, colorful chorus scenes which have contributed to the work’s past successes. The many fateful events that happen in the story simply by chance fascinated and inspired Verdi, and the „fate“-motive he composed for it appears in the overture and throughout the opera’s several fateful events.

Many more unlucky happenings occur by chance in this opera than on might expect in everyday life. In the very first scene, a pistol dropped to the ground as a gesture of peaceful reconciliation goes off and kills the father of the hero’s beloved, forcing the lovers to flee. They lose track of each other in the exciting course of the plot and don’t meet until years later. And fate continues to set the switches that determine where the plot runs.

Premiere: 25 June 2010
Further performances: 26 June – 01 August 2010 (Thursday - Sunday at 9:00 p.m.)

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