The 2017/18 Season: 70 Years of the Komische Oper Berlin – 70 Years Of
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Press release | 30/3/2017 | acr | Updated: July 2017 The 2017/18 Season: 70 Years of the Komische Oper Berlin – 70 Years of the Future of Opera 10 premieres for this major birthday, two of which are reencounters with titles of legendary Felsenstein productions, two are world premieres and four are operatic milestones of the 20 th century. 70 years ago, Walter Felsenstein founded the Komische Oper as a place where musical theatre makers were not content to rest on the laurels of opera’s rich traditions, but continually questioned it in terms of its relevance and sustainability. In our 2017/18 anniversary season, together with their team, our Intendant and Chefregisseur Barrie Kosky and the Managing Director Susanne Moser are putting this aim into practice once again by way of a diverse program – with special highlights to celebrate our 70 th birthday. From Baroque opera to operettas and musicals, the musical milestones of 20 th century operatic works, right through to new premieres of operas for children, with works by Georg Friedrich Handel through to Philip Glass, from Jacques Offenbach to Jerry Bock, from Claude Debussy to Dmitri Shostakovich, staged both by some of the most distinguished directors of our time as well as directorial newcomers. New Productions Our 70 th birthday will be celebrated not just with a huge birthday cake on 3 December, but also with two anniversary productions. Two works which enjoyed great success as legendary Felsenstein productions are returning in new productions. Barrie Kosky is staging Jerry Brock’s musical Fiddler on the Roof , with Max Hopp/Markus John and Dagmar Manzel in the lead roles, and the magician of the theatre, Stefan Herheim, will present Jacques Offenbach’s operetta Barbe- bleue in a new, German and French version. All up, the program boasts nine full premieres of new productions and one as a concert performance, including Pelléas et Mélisande and The Nose (both staged by Barrie Kosky), Die Gezeichneten (staged by Calixto Bieito) and Philip Glass’ Satyagraha (staged by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui), a series of four unique and outstanding works of the 20 th century. Additionally, there will be two world premieres: The Town Musicians of Bremen , a new German- Turkish children’s opera, and a production with the mezzo star Anne Sophie von Otter, the actor Wolfram Koch, and songs from the 1920s and ’30s. Märchen im Stiftung Oper in Berlin/Komische Oper Berlin Dr. Andrea C. Röber Behrenstraße 55–57, 10117 Berlin, Germany Press Officer Phone +49 (0)30 20260 370 [email protected] Fax +49 (0)30 20260 366 www.komische-oper-berlin.de Grand Hotel (with Max Hopp, musical direction by Adam Benzwi) opens a five- part series of concert operettas by Paul Abraham – and further sharpens the focus on the field of musical theatre from the 1920s and ’30s. Handel’s Semele continues the run of Baroque operas, and in November, the successful silent film festival Kino Varieté returns . Repertoire and Concerts After an extended absence, Calixto Bieito’s production of The Abduction from the Seraglio returns, as does Stefan Herheim’s Serse. The repertoire includes the successful productions The Pearls of Cleopatra, Il barbiere di Siviglia and Petrushka/L’Enfant et les Sortilèges from the current season, as well as Eugene Onegin , La belle Hélène and of course, the internationally acclaimed Magic Flute. In the 2017/18 season, the Komische Oper also welcomes two high-profile Kapellmeisters , in Ivo Hentschel and Jordan de Souza. For the symphony concerts, the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin is excited to welcome soloists and conductors such as Fazıl Say, Mischa Maisky, Daniel Hope, Nicola Benedetti, Chrisoph Eschenbach, Kristjan Järvi, and Katia and Merielle Labèque. The Projects Young and Selam Opera! Beyond our German-Turkish children’s opera premieres, Young Komische Oper and the intercultural project Selam Opera! are continuing with our successful work, enriching our existing project components with the addition of the Berliner Sing Along and the Pop-Up Opera . Every year, around 40,000 children and teenagers from all different backgrounds travel from Berlin and neighbouring Brandenburg come to see performances at the Komische Oper Berlin. The proportion of visitors from a non-German background is close to 10%. Advanced Ticket Sales and Streaming Advanced ticket sales for the 2017/18 season begins on 31 March 2017 at 11 a.m. In the new season, the Komische Oper will once again be live-streaming three premieres on the internet, free of charge ( Pelléas et Mélisande on 15.10.2017, Die Gezeichneten on 21.1.2018 and Barbe-bleu on 17.3.2018). To date, more than 185,000 people have been reached by the streams of the previous and current season. Stiftung Oper in Berlin/Komische Oper Berlin Dr. Andrea C. Röber Behrenstraße 55–57, 10117 Berlin, Germany Press Officer Phone +49 (0)30 20260 370 [email protected] Fax +49 (0)30 20260 366 www.komische-oper-berlin.de The season 2017/18 New Productions................................................................................... .............. 1 Festivals...................................................................................... .......................... 7 Repertoire, revivals, concerts...................................................... ....................... 8 Tours, livestreamings...................................................................... .................... 9 70th anniversary celebrations........................................................... .................. 10 Facts and figures.......................................................................................... ........ 11 Komische Oper Young!............................................................................... ........ 18 Selam Opera! ............................................................................................ ........... 22 Barrie Kosky, Artistic Director ................................................ ......................... 26 And why »comic«?............................................................................ ................... 34 Stiftung Oper in Berlin/Komische Oper Berlin Dr. Andrea C. Röber Behrenstraße 55–57, 10117 Berlin, Germany Press Officer Phone +49 (0)30 20260 370 [email protected] Fax +49 (0)30 20260 366 www.komische-oper-berlin.de Season 2017/18 New productions, Festivals, Revivals, Concerts, Tours, Live streamings Premieres Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten (Bremen Mızıkacıları) (The Town Musicians of Bremen) – World Premiere Children's opera in two acts [2017] by Attila Kadri Şendil (age 6 and older) Opera in German and Turkish A work commissioned by the Komische Oper Berlin Musical direction: Ivo Hentschel Staging: Tobias Ribitzki World premiere: 24 September, 2017 The famous tale by the Brothers Grimm about four displaced characters who take fate into their own hands and discover how much stronger they are as a group. The creator of this new German-Turkish children’s opera, in which bilingualism is presented as a natural part of our day-to-day lives, is the Turkish composer Attila Kadri Şendil. Born in İzmir, the composer Attila Kadri Şendil studied the clarinet and composing in İstanbul, Paris and Memphis/USA, and today teaches at the Akdeniz Üniversitesi in Antalya. Although based on Oriental tonal systems, his music – whose style is extremely wide-ranging – also sounds extremely familiar to Western European listeners. Although the sound of the orchestra is enriched with Turkish instruments such as the zurna, bağlama, oud and qanun, Sendil’s score for the Grimm’s fairytale (which is also known in Turkey) is also influenced by a whole variety of different musical sources. Pelléas et Mélisande Drame lyrique in five acts [1902] by Claude Debussy | Opera in French A co-production with the Nationaltheater Mannheim Musical direction: Jordan de Souza Staging: Barrie Kosky Premiere: 15 October, 2017 Last updated: July 2017. Subject to change. 1 | 19 With his deeply moving Eugene Onegin, Barrie Kosky took audiences and the press by storm – now he is once more peering into the ominous abyss of the human soul and tackling one of the most symbolic Fin de Siècle masterpieces. Nadja Mchantaf, who conquered the public’s heart as Cendrillon, Tatjana and Rusalka, will play Mélisande at the side of Dominik Köninger, the darling of the audience. Debussy congenially captured the ambiguous currents of the Maurice Maeterlinck’s play in a musical chamber play in the Impressionist style. This production by Barrie Kosky conjures up the psychogram of a moribund, late- bourgeois society which has nothing with which to counter a world out of balance other than the solace of a finely chiselled melancholy. The musical direction is provided by Canadian-born Jordan de Souza, the new Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin and a rising star in the international conducting scene. Satyagraha Opera in three acts [1980] by Philip Glass | Opera in Sanskrit A co-production with the Theater Basel and the Opera Vlaanderen Musical direction: Jonathan Stockhammer Staging and choreography: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Premiere: 27 Oktober, 2017 Born in the USA in 1937, the composer Philip Glass is an established member of the Avant-Garde. First performed in Rotterdam in 1980, Satyagraha – Glass’s piece of musical theatre – is many things: a theatre of ideas, a multimedia work of historic art, a political statement and an attempt to unite spiritual inwardness with modern Enlightenment through artistic ritual. Glass takes