For years a father shields his adolescent daughter from the outside world in order to spare her the painful realisation that she is blind. Protection or domination? Yolanta, daughter of the Provencal King Rene, is tenderly waited upon by devoted servants behind thick walls. However, she suspects that something is being kept from her. Yolanta’s father summons a Moorish doctor, Ebn-Chakia, who believes that there is a chance to help Yolanta with an operation, but demands that she first learn of her disability and express a wish to be healed. Shocked, King Rene refuses. What would happen if the operation were unsuccessful – how should Yolanta then come to terms with her blindness? Tchaikovsky’s last opera was written around the time of »Pique Dame« and the »Nutcracker« ballet music. Influenced by his 5th symphony, vision here becomes a metaphor for awareness. And so the love to Vaudemont, which Yolanta discovers by chance and which unsuspectingly reveals the secret of her disability, stimulates her desire for light. The operation is successful, and Yolanta and Vaudemont can look forward to a future together.
Lyric concertante opera in one act by Peter I. Tschaikovsky Performed in Russian with German surtitles
Running time 1 hour 40 minutes
Premiere 02 Jan 2011
Choir: Christof Bauer
