Leonore’s husband Florestan has been imprisoned for political reasons. To find him, she assumes a new identity: disguised as a young man named Fidelio, she takes a job as a prison guard, gradually making her way closer to where her husband is being held.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera premiered in Vienna in 1805, at a time marked by revolution, war and political upheaval. In Fidelio, he combines the personal story of a woman who risks everything for the man she loves with larger questions of oppression, justice and freedom.

The music ranges from intimate arias to grand ensembles and powerful choral passages. Most famous is the “Prisoners’ Chorus”, in which the prisoners are briefly allowed out of their cells to feel the sunlight and breathe the fresh air.

In these concert performances, Åsa Jäger sings Leonore and Joachim Bäckström sings Florestan. The Royal Swedish Opera Chorus joins the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Karl-Heinz Steffens.

Fidelio has a long history at the Royal Swedish Opera. The work was first performed here in 1832, and the most recent production premiered in 1970, with its final performance in 1978. Now, almost 50 years later, the Royal Swedish Opera Chorus returns to Beethoven’s only opera.

Cast subject to change.