Today : world première of 'Kunst muss (zu weit gehen) oder der Engel schwieg' bu Helmut Oehring in Köln

Today, the Köln Oper presents the world première of Kunst muss (zu weit gehen) oder der Engel schwieg (Art must go too far or the Angel was silent), a 'docupoetical instrumental theater' composed by Helmut Oehring. The libretto is based on Heinrich Böll's speech The Freedom of Art (Wuppertal, 1966) and recollections of other participants.

(c) Daniel Naupold

Since 1996 (Dokumentation, Spoleto), Helmut Oehring has composed several works for the stage including Effi Briest (Bonn, 2001), Die Brüder Löwenherz (Dresden, 2015) and Agota (Wiesbaden, 2016).

Under the postulate 'Art has to go too far' he expressed the relationship between art, politics and society. In doing so, he spoke out firmly against the idea of ​​an art that has to please society and the power in place. (freely adapted from the Köln Oper website)

The cast includes soprano emily Hindrichs (Engel 1), mezzo Adriana Bastidas-Gamboa (Engel 2), mezzo Dalia Schaechter (Engel 3), Mia Oehring (Das junge Mädchen) and Joscha Oehring (Der Junge). Bas Wiegers conducts the Ensemble Musikfabrik, Helmut Oehring and Stefanie Wördemann direct.

The performance takes place at the Staatenhaus (Saal 3) and should last about 90 minutes.

New in my collection : two programme books from Cologne and Houston

I have recently received two programme books published by opera companies for two new operas :

- Carlisle Floyd : Prince of Players, Houston (Grand Opera), March 5, 2016 ;
- Liza Lim : Tree of Codes, Cologne (Oper), April 9, 2016.

The first one is a 24 pages brochure. It is entirely in English. It contains :

- A message from the artistic and music director Patrick Summers and the managing director Perryn Leech ;
- A Life for Art, by Patrick Summers, with colour photos of previous operas composed by Floyd ;
- the complete cast and crew ;
- an article by Michael Gieleta, the director ;
- the synopsis of the opera ;
- Who's Who with black and white headshots.

The second one is a 64 pages book. It is entirely in German. It contains :

- several colour photos of rehearsals ;
- the complete cast ;
- the synopsis of the opera ;
- Tree of Codes : Cut-Outs in Time, by the composer Liza Lim ;
- Field recordings als 'Ausschnitte aus der Wirklichkeit' in Tree of Codes, by Liza Lim ;
- Anmerkung zur Dramaturgie, by Claire de Ribaupierre ;
- Der Baum der Erkenntniswurzel aus Bruno Schulz, by Georg Kehren ;
- Massimo Furlan : ein Theater der Bilder, by Claire de Ribaupierre ;
- biography of the composer.

There is a separate 12 pages booklet with the biographies of the cast and crew.

I now have 409 programme books for contemporary operas. You can see the scanned covers there.

Today : world première of Lisa Lim's 'Tree of Codes' in Cologne

Today, Liza Lim's new opera, Tree of Codes, with a libretto by the composer after Jonathan Safran Foer's Tree of Codes and Bruno Schulz' Street of Crocodiles, will be performed in Cologne, in the Staatenhaus, Saal 3.

It is the composer's fourth opera after The Oresteia (Melbourne, 1993), Moon Spirit Feasting (Adelaide, 2000), and The Navigator (Brisbane, 2008).

The story begins with the intimation of a time and place that are both original and apocalyptic: fertile soils and magma, in which human characters and animals speak an identical language and blend together. Time stands still, enabling the narrative to move forwards in several directions, opening many possible paths. The identity and opposition principles don’t apply anymore: objects are what they are and something more, a woman is both a desirable figure and a repulsive animal, the son blends in with the father, and the father with the bird. The last picture comes back to the first one and the loop comes full circle: the son takes his father’s place. (reproduced from the composer's website)

The cast includes soprano Emily Hindrichs (Adela), high baritone Christian Miedl (Son / Doctor), Carl Rosman (Mutant Bird) and actor Yael Rion (Father). Clement Power conducts the Ensemble musikFabrik and Massimo Furlan directs.

The orchestra is the following :

- 2 flutes (I doubling piccolo and bass flute, II doubling piccolo and subcontrabass flute), oboe (doubling English horn), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), bassoon ;
- horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium ;
- percussion, piano, toy piano ;
- string quintett.

The opera should last about 75 minutes.

Received in the mail this morning : program books from Köln (Eötvös) and Hamburg (Furrer)

This Wednesday morning, I have received two program books for new operas in the mail :

- Peter Eötvös, Senza sangue, Köln, May 1st, 2015 ;
- Beat Furrer, la bianca notte / die helle nacht, Hamburg, May 10th, 2015.

The first one is a 144 pages book that includes the complete and detailed program for the complete 'Acht Brücken' Festival. It contains only a short notice on the new opera, with the title 'Personal comments by Peter Eötvös on the performance of Senza sangue'. The whole book is entirely in German.

The second is a 48 pages book. It contains :
- Figuren in sizbzehn Szenen, the synopsis of the opera ;
- several quotes from Beat Furrer ;
- Kontinuierliche Suggestion, by Marie Luise Maintz ;
- Kann man Licht hören ?, by Rupert Burleigh ;
- Moderne Zeiten, gestern und heute, by Francis Hüsers ;
- a new German translation of the libretto, after the vocal score ;
- several color photos of rehearsals ;
- the complete cast for the world première ;
- and a separate 4 pages leaflet withe complete cast and crew.

You can have a look at the covers of all program books for contemporary operas I have in this flickr folder.

Today : world première (in concert) of 'Senza sangue', the new opera by Peter Eötvös

Today, the new opera composed by Peter Eötvös, Senza sangue, with a libretto by Mari Mezei after Alessandro Baricco's novel, will be performed in Cologne (at the Philharmonie), during the Acht Brücken / Musik für Köln festival.

During a civil war, a man and his companions killed the entire family of a certain young girl. The plot of the one-act opera spans many decades, from the moment where the girl looks in the eyes of the twenty-year-old boy who has shot her father but spared her own life, until their new encounter many decades later.
After the tragedy, the woman spent her whole life in some kind of schizophrenic state, looking at herself as an outside observer. She reputedly killed, or arranged the killing of, her father’s murderers, except for the man who had saved her. They both knew all along they had to meet again, but didn’t know what this encounter would bring after so many years. (reproduced from the Schott publisher website)

Mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter (La Donna) and baritone Russell Braun (L'Uomo) will be joined by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert. On May 8th and 9th, the same team will perform the work at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Further performances are planned in Göteborg in April 2016, this time with the composer conducting.

The opera should last about 50 minutes, and requires a large orchestra : 4 flutes, 2 oboes, English Horn, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass trombone, 1 tuba, 2 percussions, 2 harps, celesta and strings.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Oper Köln (Cologne)

The Opera House in Cologne will be closed for the third and last season. The performances of the 2014-2015 will take place in 5 different locations not originally conceived to welcome such events.

The new productions are :
- Johann Adolf Hasse : Leucippo, conducted by Gianluca Capuano, directed by Tatjana Gürbaca.
In fact, this production premiered in Schwetzingen in May 2014 ;
- Detlev Glanert : Solaris, (German première, new production), conducted by Lothar Zagrosek, directed by Patrick Kinmonth. The opera was first performed in Bregenz in July 2012 ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Will Humburg, directed by Mariame Clément. This production was originally staged in Strasbourg in December 2012 ;
- Luigi Dallapiccola : Il prigioniero, conducted by Gabriel Feltz, directed by Markus Bothe. It is performed as the first part of a double bill evening ending with a staged version of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's ecclesiastical action Ich wandte mich und sah an alles Unrecht, das geschah unter der Sonne ;
- Richard Strauss : Arabella, conducted by Stefan Soltesz, directed by Renaud Doucet ;
- Leos Janacek : The Diary of One Who Disappeared, conducted by Rainer Mühlbach, directed by Béatrice Lachaussée.

The revivals are :
- Giacomo Puccini : Madama Butterfly, conducted by Claude Schnitzler, directed by Patrick Kinmonth (first performed in 2008) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Cosi fan tutte, conducted by Julia Jones, directed by Tatjana Gürbaca (already performed in Lucerne in 2005 and in Munich in 2007) ;
- Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischütz, conducted by Andreas Schüller, directed by Viestur Kairiss (production of the Cologne Opera first performed in April 2014) ;
- Benjamin Britten : The Turn of the Screw, conducted by Gerrit Prießnitz, directed by Benjamin Schad (production of the Cologne Opera first performed in February 2011) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : La Clemenza di Tito, conducted by Christoph Spering, directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg (first performed in October 2011) ;
- Georges Bizet : Carmen, conducted by Claude Schnitzler, directed by Christof Loy (first performed in September 2009) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Otello, conducted by Will Humburg, directed by Johannes Schaaf.(production from the Stockholm Royal Opera, first performed in March 2013).

And in concert :
- Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky : Iolanthe, conducted by Dmitrij Kitajenko ;
- Hector Berlioz : La Damnation de Faust, conducted by Markus Poschner ;
- Franz Lehar : Die lustige Witwe, conducted by Marc Piollet.

Two productions shouldn't be advertised as new productions.
5 of the 16 operas performed have been composed in the last 100 years. Even with the Opera House being closed, the Cologne Opera manages to offer a well balanced season with baroque, classical romantic and modern music, in six different languages (German, French, Russian, Italian, English, Czech).

Just received this Wednesday morning

This morning, I have received the following :

- Mai to July 2014 brochure from the Komische Oper, Berlin ;
- 2014-2015 season program book from Oper Köln.