Heuberger/ Ernst - Der Opernball

In Richard Heuberger's Der Opernball, it's Carnival time, and Paul Aubier and his wife Angele are visiting Georges and Marguerite Dumenil in Paris. During their stay, Marguerite convinces Angele to test the fidelity of their husbands, and they decide to use the Paris Opera Ball as a venue for the experiment. When the husbands fall into their trap, the evening descends into utter chaos. This little operetta was being sung everywhere in 1898. In fact, it outlasted the "Silver Era of the Operetta," and continued to be widely performed until Heuberger's death in 1914. Music director Marius Burkert studied conducting in his native Vienna, then performed at the Graz Opera and Hanover State Opera. Guest engagements have taken him to venues such as the Karlsruhe State Theater, the Volksoper in Vienna, Taipei, and Bolzano. He has conducted concerts in cities such as Catania, Riga, and Vienna. Since 2004 he has conducted every year at the Lehar Festival in Bad Ischl. Choir director Georgi Mladenov studied piano and choral conducting in Sofia before he became an active accompanist and choir director. Prior to coming to the Graz Opera as a choral assistant in 2003, he held the same position at the Klangbogen Wien. In Graz he has led the choral ensembles in productions such as Elektra, Arabella, The Merry Widow, The Sound of Music, and Evita.