“Luisa Miller” is Giuseppe Verdi's third setting of a piece by Friedrich Schiller. “It is a great drama, full of passion and very theatrically effective,” the composer wrote to the librettist Salvadore Cammarano about “Kabale and Love”. In order to meet the expectations of the censors and the audience, Verdi first had to reduce the piece to a libretto suitable for opera, which shifted the focus from Schiller's political material to the family drama. In his opera, which premiered in Naples in 1849, Verdi achieved outstanding character studies of all the protagonists. In this work he laid the foundation for many “Verdi types” of later years, such as Jago, Giorgio Germont, Aida and Desdemona. “Luisa Miller” was given its Hamburg premiere in a new production at the Hamburg State Opera in 1981. Giuseppe Sinopoli was the musical director and Luciano Damiani was responsible for direction and set design. Production: Andreas Homoki Set design: Paul Zoller Costumes: Gideon Davey Light: Franck Evin