Along with the young singers of the Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper, Director and Grimme Award winner Axel Ranisch presents an unusual approach to two rarely performed works: In Peter I. Tchaikovsky’s last opera Iolanta, a blind princess is in search of reasons for her sadness and finds love. In Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassical one act opera buffa Mavra, an inventive young woman decides to act on a risky idea and smuggle her lover into her mother’s house disguised as a cook. Through his immense love of his characters and impressive affinity for the relationships between them, Ranisch weaves both works into a magical coming of age fairy tale of family, love, realisation and self determination: Mavra and Iolanta become Mavra / Iolanta. Alevtina Ioffe in the conductor’s stand for the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and a magnificent ensemble of the Opernstudio der Bayerischen Staatsoper create a breath takingly electric atmosphere in which the intimate lyrical moments and the great romantic arcs of Tchaikovsky shine as much as the relational, musical comedy of the neoclassical Stravinsky sparkles.