It is certainly one of the most beautiful experiences for opera enthusiasts to take a boat through evening Venice almost to the opera house and to be a guest there in the venerable Teatro La Fenice. The 33 members of the Förderkreis der Deutschen Oper Berlin experienced Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA (staged by Robert Carsen) at the legendary Teatro La Fenice in Venice on the 20th anniversary of the opera house's reconstruction. It was a bit uncertain whether the OTELLO evening would take place, as the premiere had already been cancelled in Venice due to a strike by the orchestra members. But the members of the support group were lucky and also experienced the last production of the current artistic director Fortunato Ortombina, who will take up his official post at the Teatro alla Scala in a few days. OTELLO was performed in a new production by Fabio Ceresa, with conductor Myung-Whun Chung at the rostrum, and stage sets by Massimo Checchetto, who took his inspiration from the nearby St Mark's Basilica with its Byzantine architecture and reflected its gilded hierarchy in the fixed stage set.

With glorious weather and a pre-Christmas atmosphere, Venice truly presented itself as La Serenissima to the 33 members of the support group!