Fidelio - presented by Melbourne Opera at Athenaeum Theatre

Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, a work on which he lavished great attention and some of his most inspiring and dramatic music, launches Melbourne Opera's 2013 season.

'Fidelio' tells the timeless and moving story of a woman's devoted love of her husband through great adversity. Florestan has been unjustly imprisoned by his enemy Pizarro. His wife Leonora disguises herself as a youth, gets a job in the prison, and audaciously attempts to rescue her husband. Right triumphs and the opera ends with one of the most magnificent of Beethoven's choral scenes, a ringing assertion of freedom and justice.

This new production is directed by Hugh Halliday and designed by Andrew Bellchambers.

This production will be sung in English.

The Athenaeum Theatre performances: 7.30pm on February 2 and 9, 8pm on February 5, and 2.30pm on February 10. Monash University, March 2 – 8pm.