THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST

A woman who keeps everything under control, and a dozen men who revere her as a mother, teacher, treasurer and moral authority: Minnie runs the "Polka" saloon, which serves the local gold miners as both a meeting place and a bank. Minnie’s heart belongs to everyone, but to no one in particular – until a mysterious stranger appears and sets it racing. What she does not know is that this stranger is a wanted outlaw with his eye on her miners’ gold...

The Gold Rush of the 1850s lured thousands of men to California. Hoping to find unimaginable riches, they dug for gold under inhumane conditions, until industrial mining eventually drove out the individual prospectors. It is in this setting that the plot of Puccini’s "American opera" unfolds, which had its world premiere in 1910 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, conducted by Arturo Toscanini and starring Enrico Caruso in the male lead.

Director and set designer Daniela Kerck and video designer Astrid Steiner use projections to expand the stage space in their productions – not as mere illustration, but to push the boundaries of what is possible. For the boundless emotions in Puccini’s music, they find a poetic stage language.