Today, the Nationaltheater Weimar presents the world première of Welcome to Paradise Lost, a new opera composed by Jörn Arnecke with a libretto by Falk Richter after Farid ud-Din Attar's The Conference of the Birds.
It is the composer's 14th work for the stage. His previous operas include Das Fest im Meer (Hamburg, 17 June 2003) Kryos (Bremen, 14 May 2011) Ronja Räubertochter (Duisburg, 26 February 2015) and The Frost Flower Forest (Weimar, 21 May 2019).
The humans are visited by a flock of birds that denounce our political, cultural, socio-economic and ecological transgressions. The birds urge humans both to journey toward themselves and to reach a global agreement to finally change the devastating conditions. The libretto takes on the explosive sociopolitical issues of turbo-capitalism, climate change and the destruction of nature : What are we willing to give up ? What are we losing ?The cast includes soprano Ylva Sofia Stenberg (Knabe), contralto Noa Frenkel (Ältere Frau), soprano Heike Porstein (Frau 1) contralto Sarah Mehnert (Frau 2), tenor Alexander Günther (Mann 1) and baritone Alik Abdukayumov (Mann 2). Andreas Wolf conducts the Musiktheaterensemble and a choir of fifteen young people. Andrea Moses directs.
It focuses on the confrontation between the current supporters and profiteers of the self-destructive system and the youthful protest movements that radically question their way of life. The spectators become involved in a kind of passion play and make their own pilgrimage through the various rooms of the e-werk Weimar. (reproduced from the Kunstfest Weimar website)
The performance should last about 90 minutes. The venue is e-werk Weimar.
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