Balkis, the Queen of Sheba and fiancée of King Soliman, visits her future husband in Jerusalem. Here she is introduced to the master builder Adoniram, who is to construct a miraculous building for Soliman.
She is impressed by his art and the two fall in love. She leaves the unloved ruler for his sake, but Adoniram falls victim to a bloody intrigue and Balkis can only swear eternal loyalty to him beyond death.
The Queen of Sheba is a legendary figure from the 10th century BC whose historical existence is uncertain. Many artists were inspired and seduced by the description of her legendary beauty. Charles Gounod set the queen's intoxicating love for an artist, for whom she even leaves a ruler - a scandal at the time - to music in his grand opéra from 1862. It breathes the scent of mimosas on a sultry night under palm trees and will dominate the stages of Düsseldorf and Duisburg this season as a concert performance in dazzling orchestral colours and with virtuoso singing. (Source: Deutsche Oper am Rhein)
(Concert performance of the opera)
In French with German surtitles.
