Two new programme books from Berlin and Luxembourg

I have recently received two programme books for contemporary operas :

- Alexandre Desplat, En Silence, Luxembourg, February 26, 2019 ;
- Jörg Widmann, Babylon, Berlin (Staatsoper Unter den Linden), March 9, 2019.

The first one is a 48 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- Alexandre Desplat : Mot du compositeur ;
- Solrey : Note de la metteure en scène, vidéaste ;
- complete libretto (only in French) ;
- biographies of the artists (only in French).

The book is bilingual : French and English.

The second one is a 96 pages book. It contains :

- Synopsis ;
- Roman Reeger : Jedes Arbeiten über Babylon ist auch immer Grabungsarbeit (Interview of composer Jörg Widmann) ;
- Roman Reeger : Eine Welt des Wahns (Interview of director Andreas Kriegenburg) ;
- Florian Henri Besthorn : Hereinspaziert nach Babylon, hier gibt's die ganze Welt ;
- Peter Sloterdijk : Notizen zu Babylon : excerpts of Zeilen und Tage and Neue Zeilen und Tage ;
- Eva Horn : Die romantische Verdunklung ;
- Stefan Maul : Religion in Babylon ;
- Christoph Türcke : Das Opferritual ;
- Jan Assmann : Identität und Gewalt ;
- Arno Declair : color photos of the production (February 27, 2019) ;
- complete cast and crew for the world première.

The book is entirely in German. There is a separate 8 pages leaflet with the complete cast and crew for the first performance, a separate 36 pages booklet with biographies of the artists and a 44 pages booklet with the complete libretto.

I already had in my collection the programme book for world première performance of the original version (Munich, October 27, 2012).

I now have 650 programme books for contemporary operas. I have scanned all the covers and uploaded the images to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'En silence' by Alexandre Desplat in Luxembourg

Today, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg presents the world première of En Silence, a chamber opera composed by Alexandre Desplat, with a libretto in French by the composer and Dominique 'Solrey' Lemonnier after Yasunari Kawabata's short story.

© U.S. Embassy France

It is the composer's first opera.

A young writer goes to visit an older one who has suffered a stroke and can no longer speak or write and even refuses to make any facial expressions or gestures – as if the negation of himself had become his last affirmation. This silence leads the protagonists to engage in one-way conversations, in turn generating thoughts for the phantom patient. (reproduced from the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg website)

The cast includes soprano Camille Poul, bass baritone Mikhail Timoshenko and Sava Lolov (Narrator). Alexandre Desplat conducts the United Instruments of Lucilin. Solrey directs.

The performance should last 75 minutes. After two performances in Luxembourg, the opera will also be performed in Paris at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (March 2 and 3).