Today : world première of 'Genia' by Tscho Theissing in Vienna

Today, the Theater an der Wien in Vienna presents the world première of Genia, an opera composed by Tscho Theissing, with a libretto by Kristine Tornquist.

  

(c) Christoph Hellhake

It is the composer's first opera.

Ludwig van Beethoven is attending a rehearsal of one of his symphonies. His secretary Anton Schindler bustles around him tirelessly and subserviently. Beethoven is very unhappy with the rehearsal; his ideas about how fast an allegro should be are totally different from those of the orchestra. He is annoyed. But the solution to the  tempo problem appears in the persons of the inventors Johann and Leonhard  Maelzel. Whereas Beethoven believes in art, the Maelzels believe in technology. Their latest invention concerns both worlds: a timekeeping device called  “metronome”. This should make an end to quarrels between orchestras and composers. Beethoven, though, is more interested in the Maelzels’ talented assistant Elise. She is fascinated by the gruff genius, too. But Leonhard  Maelzel gets jealous because he wants to marry Elise himself. Despite this, the Maelzels develop a  mechanical orchestra for Beethoven with 259 instruments, the Panharmonicon. But  the composer and the inventor start arguing while Elise is trying to unite technology  and art. (reproduced from the Theater an der Wien website)

The cast includes baritone Kristjan Johannesson (Beethoven), soprano Jenna Siladie (Elise), bass Ivan Zinoviev (Johann Nepomuk Mälzel), tenor Quentin Desgeorges (Leonhard Mälzel), tenor Johannes Bamberger (Anton Schindler) and soprano Ilona Revolskaya (Genia). George Jackson conducts the Wiener KammerOrchester. Kateryna Sokolova directs.

The venue is the Kammeroper.

(The première was postponed from March 5 to March 10, because the director was ill).

Today : world première of 'Minona' by Jüri Reinvere in Regensburg

Today, the Theater Regensburg presents the world première of Minona, an opera composed by Jüri Reinvere, who also wrote the libretto.

It it the composer's third opera, after Puhdistus (The Purge, Helsinki, April 20, 2012) and Peer Gynt (Oslo, November 29, 2014).

This work is dedicated to a both unusual and spectacular topic – Beethoven’s presumed natural daughter, Minona von Stackelberg, and his 'Immortal Beloved' Josephine Brunsvik. The presumption is that Josephine Brunsvik was the recipient of Beethoven’s letter addressed to his 'Immortal Beloved'. Josephine had been married since 1810 to her second husband Christoph Baron von Stackelberg. Much points to a meeting between Beethoven and Brunsvik in July 1812. At this point Josephine’s marriage was already on the rocks. Nine months after this meeting Josephine gave birth to daughter Minona. Some of her compositions are still intact. (reproduced from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation website)

The cast includes soprano Theodora Varga (Minona), soprano Anna Pisareva (Josephine), mezzo Vera Semieniuk (Gräfin von Goltz), baritone Johannes Mooser (Graf von Teleki) and tenor Deniz Yilmaz (Attila de Gerando). Chin-Chao Lin conducts the Philharmonic Orchestra Regensburg and the Chorus of the Theater Regensburg. Hendrik Müller directs.