Newsletter Season 2026
Opera, Concerts & Lectures
This year's programme offers an inspiring musical journey through 17th-century Italy – from the opera stages of Venice to Neapolitan adaptations of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea. The season reflects how Venetian opera spread across the Italian peninsula, while Venice served as a vital meeting point between East and West, where cultural and commercial exchange left its mark on the music.
Welcome into a living Baroque world filled with music, drama and history.
Music, History and Power in 17th-Century Italy
We warmly recommend our two lecture-concerts at Livrustkammaren, where history literally comes alive through music, storytelling and live performance.
2026 marks the 400th anniversary of Queen Christina's birth. To celebrate this occasion, Drottningholms Slottsteater presents two lectures with musician and musicologist Andrés Locatelli, focusing on Italian Baroque music and opera. History and music meet in a vivid format that brings 17th-century Italy to life.
The lectures invite a broad audience to discover the rich soundworld of the Italian Baroque and explore the connections between political power and musical art. They are held in English and accompanied by live music performed by vocal soloists and leading members of the Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra.
MUSICAL LIFE IN ROME AT THE ARRIVAL OF QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN (1655) | 23 May
Queen Christina was a controversial and fascinating figure in 17th-century European cultural life. Having abdicated and converted to Catholicism, she received a grand reception upon her arrival in Rome in 1655.
L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA (1643) AND THE LEGACY OF CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI | 30 May
Get ready for the summer! Ahead of the season's magnificent production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at Drottningholms Slottsteater, this second lecture will focus on this landmark work in opera history, its composer's life, and his lasting legacy.
ELISABET STRID | 6 & 12 June
World-renowned soprano Elisabet Strid gives two exclusive concerts in support of Drottningholms Slottsteater. On 6 June at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London, presented by Sir Antonio Pappano, and on 12 June in the Déjeuner Salon at Drottningholms Slottsteater. All proceeds go directly to Drottningholms Slottsteater.
FROM THEATRE TO MODEL | 12 May, 18 September
An exclusive tour for just 12 guests. The experience begins inside Drottningholms Slottsteater, where the stage machinery is demonstrated at full scale and the historical technology is explained – something not included in the regular guided tours, as the historic environment is highly sensitive to wear. The visit concludes with a presentation of the theatre model that Head Machinist Christer Nilsson continues to develop and refine.
L'incoronazione di Poppea
Hum Hum Hume
During the season we also offer a rich festival programme, "The 18th Century on the Catwalk", as well as an exhibition featuring costumes for a queen – the gowns and outfits worn by H.M. Queen Silvia during her 50 years as Sweden's queen.
We offer many fascinating courses and historical guided tours.
Drottningholms Slottsteater
Box 6, 178 02 Drottningholm
kommunikation@dtm.se