Today : world première of 'Dschungel' by Manuel Renggli in Luzern

Today, the Luzerner Theater presents the world première of Dschungel (Jungle), a brass-opera composed by Manuel Renggli with a libretto by Michael Fehr based on Rudyard Kipling's book.

It is the composer's first opera.

Brahma, a young girl escaping her weak mother, flees in the jungle. There, she discovers an world inhabited by animals who might help or hinder her : Atlanta the yellow snake, which might not be as wise as it would like to be, the wild gray monkeys and the dazzling birds. At the end of her adventurous trip between reality, fantasy and hallucination, Brahma has learned that of she can't choose her own life, she can take it with her own hands. (freely adapted from the Luzerner Theater website)

The cast includes soprano Nina Schnürpel (Atlanta), soprano Rebecca Krynski Cox (Raja), mezzo Sarah Alexandra Hudarew (Samreh), baritone Jason Cox (Red Baron's Son), bass Vuyani Mlinde (Red Baron) and actress Nina Langensand (Brahma). Michael Bach or William Kelley conducts the Brassband Bürgermusik Luzern and the Chorus of the Luzerner Theater. Tom Ryser directs.

Received in the mail : Johannes Maria Staud, 'Die Antilope', program book

This Tuesday morning, I have received in the mail the program book for the new opera by Johannes Maria Staud, Die Antilope, which was first performed in Lucerne last week.

The 60 pages booklet contains :

- the complete cast with the technical team,
- black and white pictures,
- plot summary,
- an article on the opera (with the title The Cycle of Life),
- detailed biographies of composer and librettist,
- questions and answers with the composer and the librettist (separate),
- the complete libretto,
- and short biographies of cast members, with pictures.

Today : World première of 'Die Antilope' by Johannes Maria Staud

Today, the second opera by 40 year old Austrian composer Johannes Maria Staud, Die Antilope, with a libretto by Durs Grünbein, will be performed in Luzern (Luzerner Theater). It is a coproduction with the Oper Köln.

Here is what the composer writes about this new opera :

“The opera tells the story of a young man, Victor, a character that draws on Victor Krap (Samuel Beckett, Eleutheria) and Bartleby, the Scrivener (Herman Melville). Victor, a nonconformist social outsider, escapes from an increasingly claustrophobic company party (complete with stagnant and meaningless party chit-chat) by jumping out of the window. This results in Victor stumbling through an absurdly distorted urban world, his ‘journey through the night’ leading him to the strangest situations, sometimes menacing and appalling, sometimes funny and grotesque, always wavering on the threshold between real and unreal. Our hero is torn between the desire to be an outside observer, a spontaneous man of action (he is not immune to moral indignation) and allowing himself to be swept away by the dynamics of the curious situations in which he finds himself. At the end of this journey, Victor – whose true motivation remains a mystery – turns up unexpectedly back at the company party under extremely strange circumstances. The party, which had been frozen in time during his absence, resumes as if nothing had happened. The Möbius band has closed.”. (reproduced from http://www.universaledition.com)

The opera should last about 75 minutes, requires 7 singers, SATB chorus and an orchestra of 18 and strings (7 woodwinds, 6 brass, 2 percussionists, accordion, MIDI-piano, alto sax, strings).

The cast includes : Jutta Maria Böhnert, Todd Boyce, Flurin Caduff, Szymon Chojnacki, Utku Kuzuluk, Eun-Kyong Lim, Carlo Maffioletti and Jeanett Neumeister. Howard Arman conducts and Dominique Mentha directs.

His first opera, Berenice, after Edgar Allan Poe, was first performed in Munich in May 2004, then revised and premièred in Heidelberg in November 2005.