Gods, nymphs, and mythical creatures are all held in the thrall of love and desire, power and violence, enacting human passions in a tragicomic manner. Premiered in Venice in 1651, the work challenges both the moral values ​​underpinning the social order and the associated gender roles. Does Calisto’s transformation into the constellation of the Great Bear at the opera’s conclusion signify a break with the divine order or an act of submission? Director Stefan Herheim, together with lutenist and conductor Christina Pluhar—a leading interpreter of 17th-century music—stage this early Baroque opera as a magical cosmic spectacle, in a co-production with Theatre an der Wien.