Regieoper to be the most radically shocking to date. The inspiration for Mozart's opera was the overwhelming fascination of Europeans by all things Turkish. Orientalist elements abound in this story of a hero trying to rescue two girls from the clutches of an evil Pasha who has installed them in his harem, Seraglio. Instead of a genteel harem, Bieto has set this Abduction in a modern, garish bordello where men and women engage in extreme acts of sex and brutality. The sets consist mainly of whorehouse accoutrements, the lighting is colored and garish, and the costumes for the most part are
Christine Weidinger among others. In 1988 she performed the role of Eupaforice in Carl Heinrich Graun's "Montezuma" at the Spoleto Festival USA. After a 16-year absence, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 1992 to sing the title role in Rossini's "Semiramide". Some of the many other roles Weidinger has sung on stage are Arminda in "La finta giardiniera", the Countess in "Le comte Ory", Gilda in "Rigoletto", Konstanze in "The Abduction from the Seraglio", Leonora in "Il trovatore", the title role in Rossini's "Armida", Armida in Handel's "Rinaldo" (with Marilyn Horne) and Amenaide in "Tancredi". She also performed the demanding Donizetti