HBSO celebrates New Year with operetta The Bat

Die Fledermaus, set in Vienna in the 19th century, features Dr Falke’s plan to embarrass his friend Eisenstein who leaves him at a park after a costume party.

Johann Strauss II finished the work in one month and a half. Its libretto was written by German dramatist Karl Haffner and author and composer Richard Genée.

The operetta premiered in 1874 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.

Since New Year’s Eve of 1900, Die Fledermaus has become an integral part of the Vienne State Opera for the New Year season, and a tradition for many theatres and troupes in the UK, Australia, Lithuania and now Vietnam.

In Vietnam, the operetta premiered during the Autumn Melody Festival in August, the biggest event featuring classical arts forms in HCM City, receiving a warm welcome from critics and local and foreign audiences.

It is being staged by German director David Hermann, who has overseen numerous classical and modern operas such as The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute by Mozart, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake) by Arthur Honegger and L’heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour) by Maurice Ravel.

The performance will feature South Korean soprano Cho Hae Ryong, soprano Pham Khanh Ngoc and baritone Dao Mac, together with HBSO’s vocalists, musicians and dancers.

Tran Nhat Minh, who earned a master’s degree in chorus conducting at Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Russia, will conduct the performance.