Cervantes or Das Spitzentuch der Königin (The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief)

is the seventh of Johann Strauss II’s operettas. It will be given on 26 June 2006 at the Landestheater in Coburg, Germany, as part of the Johann Strauss Festival of the City of Coburg and within the framework of the European Festivals of Johann Strauss’s Works for the Stage in a concert performance using a new version created by Ralph Braun, the leader of the theatre’s orchestra. He was also responsible for the very successful production of Simplicius in Coburg in 2004.

Strauss’s operettas will also be a main focus of the Coburg Week.

On 27 June 2006 Ralph Braun will give a lecture with the following title:

‘Music as the key to Strauss’s unknown operettas and the opportunities it provides for interpretation and performance, as exemplified by Simplicius and The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief’.

These events will form part of a programme that also includes concerts given by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the soprano Ildikó Raimondi and the Vienna String Quartet, as well as Brassissimo Vienna and the International Alexander Girardi Competition for singers.