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On 29 July and 1 August 2026, the Salzburg Festival, the world’s most prestigious opera festival, will welcome the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Alain Altinoglu for two concert performances of Jules Massenet’s Werther. They will share the stage of the Großes Festspielhaus with a star cast led by Benjamin Bernheim (Werther), Marianne Crebassa (Charlotte) and Sandra Hamaoui (Sophie), along with the Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children’s Choir.
In his operatic version of Goethe’s iconic novel,Werther relates the impossible idyll of the young Werther and Charlotte, the eldest daughter of a local official, Le Bailli. They first meet when the family of Le Bailli is busy rehearsing a Christmas carol with his children – for whom Charlotte has assumed the role of her deceased mother. After attending a ball together, Werther effusively confesses his feelings for Charlotte: he’d gladly give up his life if it meant he could be with her. But when he learns that she is engaged to Albert, Werther storms off. He doesn’t return until after the couple’s wedding, and continues to hope that he and Charlotte might remain friends. But his love has become an obsession to which he repeatedly succumbs, and when Charlotte reads his passionate letters, she realizes that she, too, has feelings for him. On Christmas Day, Werther asks Albert for his pistols. Charlotte rushes to him, but too late: Werther dies in her arms.