Opera

The Snow Queen

Hans Abrahamsen

Kay and Gerta's journey to the Snow Queen and into the depths of the human soul.

Opera in three acts
Libretto by Hans Abrahamsen and Henrik Engelbrecht after the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. English translation by Amanda Holden

Performed in English with German and English surtitles

Premiere
7. December 2025

Recommended age
15 and up

Dates & Cast

Premiere
Event is in the past
Duration
6 pm – 8.15 pm
Intermission after 60 minutes
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Dresden Day
Event is in the past
Duration
7 pm – 9.15 pm
Intermission after 60 minutes
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Matinee Performance
Event is in the past
Duration
2 pm – 4.15 pm
Intermission after 60 minutes
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Event is in the past
Duration
7 pm – 9.15 pm
Intermission after 60 minutes
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Event is in the past
Duration
7 pm – 9.15 pm
Intermission after 60 minutes
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
Dresden Day
Event is in the past
Duration
7 pm – 9.15 pm
Intermission after 60 minutes
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

In brief

Have you heard the tale of two children who embark on an adventure during which they meet fairytale characters and return, fully transformed, as adults?

Hans Abrahamsen’s (*1952) three-act opera The Snow Queen, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, premiered in Copenhagen in 2019. This is a coming-of-age story about Kay and Gerda, two kids who live next door to one another. When a splinter of ice pierces Kay’s eye and freezes his heart, the friends become estranged. For Gerda this is the start on an extraordinary journey to strange places.

The Snow Queen is a magnificent, multi-layered opera that casts a whole new light on the fairy tale on which it is based. The Danish composer’s intricate and painstakingly detailed score is expressive, sensitive and liberating. He provides colourful and memorable portrayals of the individual emotional states of the characters. You can literally hear Abrahamsen’s love of snow, ice and the cold; and here the natural elements should be understood as a metaphor for people who have lost contact with each other. But in the end, the hearts of the protagonists are melted – Kay and Gerda reaffirm their deep mutual bond: “It's summer, the warm and blessed summer.” This journey into the innermost depths of the human soul has a star-studded cast headed by Georg Zeppenfeld as the Snow Queen, Christa Mayer as the Grandmother, Jessica Niles and Louise McClelland Jacobsen as Gerda and Valerie Eickhoff as Kay.

Storyline

Act one

The two children Gerda and Kay, listen to the grandmother as she reads them the story of the Snow Queen. The latter flies through the thick snowfall, and Kay wishes that she would come into the warm room and melt there. Gerda tells Kay the legend of a devil with a distorting mirror that makes everything beautiful look ugly. The mirror is broken and does much harm to the people who get such a splinter in their eye or heart: then they only see the bad in things. Kay now has difficulty falling asleep, and he is frightened when he sees the Snow Queen. 
While Gerda and Kay marvel at the blooming roses, Kay is pierced in the heart and eye. Now Kay no longer sees the beauty of the flowers and makes fun of his friend. Gerda is appalled by his reactions.
Kay is fascinated by the symmetry of ice crystals. Instead of playing with Gerda, he prefers to play with the boys, who reject him. At this moment, the Snow Queen arrives on a sled and takes him with her.
The two of them fly to the Snow Queen’s palace. When the Snow Queen kisses Kay on the forehead, he no longer has any feeling of the cold surrounding him and forgets his previous life.

Act two

Gerda sets out in search of Kay and meets the Old Woman.
In the Old Woman’s garden, Gerda learns from the flowers that Kay is alive, and so she continues on her search.
The forest crow tells her the story that a clever princess searched for and finally found a man at her side who was equally clever. Gerda immediately believes that this man is Kay and sets out for the castle. 
On arriving, they are greeted by the castle crow, who lets them into the castle. When Gerda encounters the prince and the princess, she realizes that she was wrong. But the two want to help her find Kay.

Act three

Gerda and the crows join the prince and princess in their carriage in order to find Kay together. But they are ambushed in a forest by robbers, and all except Gerda are killed. From now on, Gerda continues her
journey with a reindeer, setting out for the cold north.
The reindeer tells the Finn woman of Gerda’s captivity and that she learned there from sad doves that Kay is living with the Snow Queen. The Finn woman then tells the reindeer the story of Kay's absence and explains that Gerda does not need any special powers. She has everything she needs in order to free Kay. She asks the reindeer to take Gerda to the Snow Queen.
Encountering the guards of the Snow Queen’s palace, the reindeer leaves Gerda and kisses her on the mouth. The guards want to frighten away Gerda, who is suffering from the cold, but protecting angels emerge from Gerda’s breath.
The Snow Queen asks Kay to make the perfect word out of pieces of ice and dashes off to the warm south. As Kay puzzles over the solution, Gerda finds him at last. They embrace and cry, during which one splinter of the mirror is washed out of his eye and the other melts in his heart.
The ice crystals combine to form the word “Eternity”. Back with the grandmother, it becomes clear that Kay and Gerda have grown up, but have remained children in their hearts. Together they look at the roses in the garden and enjoy the warm and blessed summer.


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