Tim Albery’s darkly insightful production of Wagner’s masterful early opera The Flying Dutchman stars Bryn Terfel.

The Flying Dutchman has been cursed for eternity. Once every seven years he is allowed to come ashore to seek redemption. He may have found it in Senta, a woman who longs for escape from her dreary life.

Der Fliegende Holländer premiered in Dresden in 1843, shortly after Rienzi in 1842. The two premieres were immense successes and marked the beginning of Wagner’s career as one of the greatest operatic composers.

Albery’s Olivier Award nominated production delves deep into the psychology of Wagner’s cursed wanderer and his beloved Senta, detailing the monomania and uncompromising idealism that finally drives them apart.

Michael Levine’s elemental single set is dominated by a rolling metal hull that represents the Dutchman’s phantom ship, the poverty of Senta’s home and the treacherous sea.

Der Fliegende Holländer is sung in German with English surtitles.

Learn more about London operas within the West End.