The Kungliga Operan (Royal Opera) in Stockholm is Sweden's national opera house and has resided since 1898 in a magnificent Neo-Renaissance building at Gustav Adolfs torg opposite the Royal Palace. The gold-decorated hall with around 1,200 seats is one of the most beautiful opera houses in Scandinavia. The house goes back to a foundation by King Gustav III in 1773 — the monarch was shot in the predecessor opera at the same location during a masked ball in 1792, an assassination that inspired Verdi's opera Un ballo in maschera. The Kungliga Operan is home to the Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Swedish Ballet and produces about eight to ten premieres per season.
Because of the royal murder at the masked ball, Verdi had to soften his opera for the censors — the Swedish king was simply rewritten as a governor in faraway Boston.
At a glance
- Type
- Opera house
- Location
- Stockholm, Sweden
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- Stockholm House of Culture & City Theatre · Multi-genre theatre, Stockholm
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More venues in Sweden
- Gävle Concert Hall · Concert hall, Gävle