Once upon a time … there was a king who had three children. In the kingdom, the crown had always been passed on to the son or daughter deemed most suitable to rule. A ring served as the symbol of power, which the king must hand over before his death.

When the old king learns that he will soon die, he cannot decide which of his three children should receive the ring. He loves them all equally: Jeannette, Louis, and Claire. The king decides to have two identical copies of the ring made and gives one ring to each of his children.

After the king’s death, Jeannette claims the throne. Louis protests, producing his own ring as proof that he is the rightful king. Claire steps into the dispute between the two, also presenting her ring. The siblings fall into conflict. The kings of neighboring countries seize the opportunity to take possession of the kingdom. How the siblings find their way out of this seemingly hopeless situation is told in this opera for audiences aged 6 and up.

The starting point for this commissioned opera is the parable of the ring, which was already included by Giovanni Boccaccio in his collection of stories DECAMERON and later incorporated by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing as a central element of his play NATHAN THE WISE.

The Cologne-based composer Philipp Matthias Kaufmann writes pieces for ensembles ranging from chamber music to orchestral compositions. A central focus of his work is the development of pieces for children’s and family concerts. For example, since 2009 he has written the first three pieces for the annual Cologne project SINGEN MIT KLASSE. The librettist Martin Baltscheit is a writer, illustrator, actor, and director. Since 2014, he has written children’s books, often illustrating them himself. He received the Children’s and Young Adult Audiobook Award for NUR 1 TAG. This was followed by works including LÖWENFREUNDE LEBEN LÄNGER, TSCHIEP!, and DER EINSAMSTE WAL DER WELT. His book DIE GESCHICHTE VOM FUCHS, DER DEN VERSTAND VERLOR was awarded the German Youth Literature Prize and was set to music by Johannes Wulff-Woesten for the Kinderoper Köln (premiere in 2021).