This opera is based on the novella by Thomas Mann and premiered in England in June 1973. The story's main theme of impossible love is woven around a cholera outbreak which occurs in Venice in the early 1900s.

The production is directed by Deborah Warner, who also directed Eugene Onegin - an ENO collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Death in Venice sees Warner once again work alongside one of ENO's finest Music Directors, Edward Gardner.