LA GIACONDA is Amilcare Ponchielli's only permanently successful opera. Yet with it, he wrote music history: the piece tells of a singer named La Giaconda, "the jovial woman", who ultimately sacrifices herself to allow her unhappy beloved Enzo to start a new life with an already married woman named Laura, the wife of Venetian politician Alvise Badoero. It is a central masterpiece of Italian opera between Verdi and Puccini, between melodrama and verismo, rich with melody and yet dramatically arresting. And this opera's most popular number, "Dance of the Hours", is the ballet music in the third act. It is played as a concertante performance along with other excerpts, including Giaconda's aria "Suicidio!" or Enzo's "Cielo e mar". Enzo will be performed by one of the most in-demand tenors of our time, Joseph Calleja, who is returning to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for this performance. He is joined by baritone George Gagnidze, a regular guest at the opera on Bismarckstraße, as intriguing adversary Barnaba – along with two young singers who number among the up-and-coming stars in the opera world: Judit Kutasi as Laura, and Hui He in the title role. The orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin under Ivan Repusic will be playing, and Jörg Schörner will be moderating through the evening.