The Halle Opera House is set to stage Franz Schreker’s rarely performed opera “Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin” on April 11, 2026, with further performances running through May 24.

The work will be conducted by Fabrice Bollon with Nele Lindemann directing, and the Halle State Orchestra performing. Thomas Weinhappel stars as Master Florian, with Franziska Krötenheerdt as The Princess, Chulhyun Kim as A Wandering Lad, and Ki-Hyun Park as Wolf.

The opera explores the story of a princess whose decadent rule turns her people against her, a crisis averted by a traveling journeyman whose flute playing and a mysterious musical instrument built by Master Florian manage to calm the enraged crowd.

The Halle Opera House production presents the first version of the work, which premiered simultaneously in Frankfurt and at the Vienna Court Opera on March 15, 1913. While the Frankfurt premiere met with respectable success, the Viennese opening led to physical altercations. Schreker later revised the work extensively, releasing a second version under the shortened title “Das Spielwerk.”