For his first opera libretto, director David Bösch has given the classic story of D'Artagnan and the musketeers a good shake-up. The role of the horse Holgär is played by an entertaining emcee who guides the audience through the story in a child-friendly and humorous way, while at the same time being part of the story and the musketeer society himself.
D'Artagnan is a fearless girl with one goal: to become a musketeer and free the country from the oppression of the self-absorbed king and his power-hungry advisor, the cardinal. The two possess a mysterious instrument of power: a golden croissant that magically makes people selfish and divides them. In order to restore friendship and unity among the people, the power of this sinister pastry must be broken. Together with the cheeky horse Holgär and the somewhat clumsy but amiable Portos (a student of the mysterious Master Wu), d'Artagnan sets off for Paris to face the dangerous task.
The world that David Bösch's Musketeers! fight their way through has a lot to do with today: It's about injustice, egoism, believing in yourself and sticking together and helping each other. Now that a historical world of musketeers has been transformed into a modern fairytale world for the children's opera, David Bösch and his team can draw on the full potential of the stage: not only does Holgär, a talking horse, play a part, but there are also a whole host of other partly sinister, partly comical characters when D'Artagnon and her friends make their way to Paris. The mysterious Golden Croissant naturally makes a glamorous appearance. And what could be more normal for a king who celebrates his birthday every day than living in a bouncy castle? Exactly!
Premiere December 3, 2025
Further performances: December 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21, 2025, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, May 2026
