New programme books in my collection

This morning, I have received two programme books for contemporary operas :

- Benet Casablancas, L'enigma di Lea, Barcelona, February 9, 2019 ;
- Anno Schreier, Schade, dass sie eine Hure war, Düsseldorf, February 16, 2019.

The first one is a 94 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- biography of the composer ;
- Christina Scheppelmann : Sobre 'L'enigma di Lea' ;
- Carme Portaceli : Sobre la producción ;
- synopsis with musical comments (bilingual, Spanish and English) ;
- Rafael Argullol : 'L'enigma di Lea', un cuento mítico ;
- Germán Gan Quesada : La obra de Benet Casablancas : cuatro décadas de hallazgos sonoros ;
- interview with Alison Cook ;
- Javier Pérez Senz : Benet Casablancas, un retrato discográfico ;
- biographies of the artists with black and white headshots.

The programme is entirely in Spanish and contains several photos of rehearsals.

The second is a 48 pages book. It contains :

- synopsis ;
- Bernhard Klaus Tragelehn : Das Leben John Fords, Anmerkungen ;
- Hella Bartnig : " 'Tis pity she's a whore' : Sujet und Adressat ;
- Hella Bartnig : Eine Oper der Affekte, dialogue with the composer ;
- biographies of composer Anno Schreier and librettist Kerstin Maria Pöhler ;
- Laster und Tabubrüche auf der Opernbühne ;
- Robert Musil : Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (excerpt) ;
- several colour photos of rehearsals ;
- synopsis in English.

The book is entirely in German. It contains a separate 12 pages booklet with biographies of the artists and a 4 pages leaflet with the complete cast and crew.

I have recently acquired four other programme books :

- Azio Corghi, Tat'jana, Milano, October 20, 2000 (world première) ;
- Salvatore Sciarrino, Perseo e Andromeda, Milano, March 27, 1992 (world première in Stuttgart on January 27, 1991) ;
- Manfred Trojahn, War ihr wollt, Hannover, December 8, 2018 (world première in München on May 24, 1998) ;
- Mark Anthony Turnage, Anna Nicole, Nürnberg, November 3, 2018 (world première in London on February 17, 2011).

I now have 642 programme books for contemporary operas. I have scanned all the covers and uploaded them to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Schade, dass sie eine Hure war' by Anno Schreier in Düsseldorf

Today, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein presents the world première of Schade, dass sie eine Hure war ('Tis Pity She's a Whore), an opera in five acts composed by Anno Schreier, with a libretto in German by Kerstin Maria Poehler after John Ford's play.

It is the composer's fifth opera, after Kein Ort. Nirgends (2006), Die Stadt der Blinden (Zürich, 2011), Mörder Kaspar Brand (Düsseldorf, 2012) and Hamlet (Vienna, 2016).

The two lovers Giovanni and Annabella are not the children of rival families but brother and sister, whose incestuous affection stands in the way of their happiness. The dark web of intrigue surrounding them is rough and coarsely-meshed and as a result its deadly poison often misses its intended target. While Annabella’s spurned suitors butcher each other, she becomes pregnant with her brother’s child and is forced into marriage with one candidate in order to conceal their incestuous relationship. Overcome with manic passion, Giovanni kills his lover and shocks everyone who manages to survive this cruel game of lies and deceit. (reproduced from the Deutsche Oper am Rhein website)

The cast includes tenor Jussi Myllys (Giovanni), soprano Lavinia Dames (Annabella), bass Bogdan Talos (Mönch), mezzo Sarah Ferede (Hippolita), baritone Richard Šveda (Soranzo), bass baritone Günes Gürle (Florio), tenor Sergej Khomov (Grimaldi), tenor Florian Simson (Bergetto) and bass David Jerusalem (Richardetto). Lukas Beikircher conducts the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the Chorus of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. David Hermann directs.

The performance should last about 2 hours and a half, including intermission. The venue is the Opernhaus in Düsseldorf.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf - Duisburg)

Running two opera houses in Düsseldorf and Duisburg, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein has the opportunity to perform 24 operas, including 8 new productions (according to the program book). We shall see it is not exactly accurate.

The eight new productions are the following :

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Marc Piollet, directed by Barrie Kosky and Suzanne Andrade. In fact, this production is new only in Düsseldorf. It has already been performed at the Komische Oper in Berlin, in Duisburg and in St. Paul, MN ;
- Richard Strauss : Ariadne auf Naxos, conducted by Axel Kober, directed by Dietrich W. Hilsdorf ;
- Emmerich Kalman : Die Zirkusprinzessin, conducted by Wofram Koloseus, directed by Josef E. Köpplinger (the production will have its première in Munich next July) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Aida, conducted by Axel Kober, directed by Philipp Himmelmann ;
- Jules Massenet : Werther, conducted by Lukas Beikircher, directed by Joan Anton Rechi. This production has already been performed this season in Düsseldorf ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'Elisir d'amore, conducted by Lukas Beikircher, directed by Joan Anton Rechi ;
- Jörn Arnecke : Ronja Räubertochter, conducted by Lukas Beikircher, directed by Johannes Schmid (children opera, world première) ;
- Sergei Prokofiev : The Fiery Angel, conducted by Wen-Pin Chien, directed by Immo Karama.

In fact, there are only 5 new productions, including a world première.

The revivals are as follows :

- Georges Bizet : Carmen, directed by Carlos Wagner ;
- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Serse, directed by Stefan Herheim ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel, directed by Andreas Meyer-Hanno ;
- Emmerich Kalman : Die Csardasfürstin, directed by Joan Anton Rechi ;
- Marius Felix Lange : Vom Mädchen, das nicht schlafen wollte. This children opera was performed for the first time last February in Duisburg ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Don Giovanni, directed by Karoline Gruber ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le Nozze di Figaro, directed by Michael Hampe ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, directed by Dietrich W. Hilsdorf ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Il Trittico, directed by Dietrich W. Hilsdorf ;
- Richard Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier, directed by Otto Schenk ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Rigoletto, directed by David Hermann ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, directed by Andreas Homoki ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Un ballo in maschera, directed by Stein Winge ;
- Ludger Vollmer : Gegen die Wand, directed by Gregor Horres. The opera will be performed for the first time ever in Duisburg next month ;
- Richard Wagner : Der fliegende Holländer, directed by Adolf Dresen ;
- Richard Wagner : Lohengrin, directed by Sabine Hartmannshenn.

Received in the mail this Saturday morning

In answer to my e-mails earlier this week, I received the following in the mail this morning :

- Amsterdam, Nationale Opera & Ballet (new name for the previous De Nederlandse Opera) : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Berlin, Deutsche Oper : 2014-2015 season book, with June 2014 leaflet ;
- Berlin, Staatsoper im Schiller Theater : 2014-2015 season book, May and June 2014 leaflets ;
- Braunschweig, Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Düsseldorf / Duisburg, Deutsche Oper am Rhein : 2014-2015 season book and June 2014 leaflet ;
- Genève, Grand Théâtre : 2014-2015 sason book ;
- Heidelberg, Theater und Orchester : 2014-2015 season book (two copies) ;
- Leipzig, Oper : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Luzern, Theater : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Mainz, Staatstheater : 2014-2015 season book.