New programme books in my collection

I have recently acquired 7 new programme books for performances of contemporary operas :

- Harrison Birtwistle : The Mask of Orpheus, London (ENO), October 18, 2019 ;
- John Corigliano : The Ghosts of Versailles, Versailles, December 4, 2019 (National première) ;
- Chaya Czernowin : Heart Chamber, Berlin (Deutsche Oper), November 15, 2019 (world première) ;

- Søren Nils Eichberg : Wolf unter Wölfen, Koblenz, November 23, 2019 (world première) ;
- Philip Glass : Orphée, London (ENO), November 15, 2019 ;
- Olga Neuwirth : Orlando, Vienna (Staatsoper), December 8, 2019 (world première) ;
- Philip Venables : Denis & Katya, Philadelphia, September 18, 2019 (world première).

I now have programme books for 710 performances of contemporary operas in my collection. I have scanned all the covers and uploaded the images to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Wolf unter Wölfen' by Soren Nils Eichberg in Koblenz

Today, the Theater Koblenz presents the world première of Wolf unter Wölfen (Wolf Among Wolves), an opera composed by Søren Nils Eichberg with a libretto by John von Düffel based on Hans Fallada's novel.

It is the composer's fourth opera after Grete Minde (2009), Glare (London, November 15, 2014) and Schönerland (Wiesbaden, September 16, 2017).

Berlin in the summer of 1923 : inflation keeps people on their toes. From day to day, the value of the mark falls down. The social fabric has got into trouble. On the streets of the capital, the innocent impoverished, the opportune criminals, the war disabled, gamblers, drunkards and whores. In the midst of this charged atmosphere, three former soldiers meet. Wolfgang Pagel is desperately looking for money to marry his girlfriend Petra and to lead her out of poverty. Officer Studmann never got on his feet again professionally after the end of the war. And Captain von Prackwitz urgently needs reapers to bring in the harvest on his estate Neulohe. Together they leave Berlin - 'Capital of Sin and Cheap Babylon' - to start a better life on the Prackwitz estate. But the idyll there is deceptive : for a long time now, people have lost all their properties. Everyone cares only about themselves, being only a wolf among wolves. (freely adapted from the Theater Koblenz website)

The cast includes mezzo Danielle Rohr (Petra Ledig), tenor Tobias Haaks (Wolfgang Pagel), baritone Christoph Plessers (Joachim von Prackwitz), tenor Mark Bowman-Hester (Studmann), mezzo Monica Mascus (Frau Thumann / Frau Pagel) and soprano Theresa Dittmar (Eva von Prackwitz). Karsten Huschke conducts the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and the Opera Chorus. Waltraud Lehner directs.

New programme book : 'Schönerland' by Soren Nils Eichberg in Wiesbaden

I have recently received the programme book published by the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden for the world première performance of Søren Nils Eichberg's Schönerland.

It is a 24 pages brochure, entirely in German. It contains :

- production team ;
- synopsis ;
- color photos of rehearsals ;
- interview of the composer by Katja Leclerc ;
- Was ist 'Schönerland', by director Johanna Wehner ;
- Wir Flüchtlinge by Hannah Arendt ;
- Eine neue Oper entsteht, by Katja Leclerc.

It is the 489th programme book for contemporary opera I have in my collection. I have uploaded all the scanned covers to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of Søren Nils Eichberg's 'Schönerland' in Wiesbaden

Today, the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden presents the world première of Søren Nils Eichberg's opera Schönerland, with a libretto by Therese Schmidt.

©Henning Harms

It is the third opera by the composer, after Grete Minde (2009) and Glare (2014).

What can a European art form teach us about the search for a new home? In this newly commissioned work, the young Danish-German composer Søren Nils Eichberg seeks to open a dialogue - sometimes emotionally charged, sometimes tongue-in-cheek - which reflects on the power of opera in a world where being understood amidst strangers is just as important as understanding the cultures of others. (reproduced from the Hessisches Staatstheater website)

The cast includes baritone Thomas de Vries (Intendant), tenor Erik Biegel (The Composer), soprano Britta Stallmeister (Playwright / Young Woman), soprano Eleni Calenos (Saida), tenor Aaron Cawley (Dariush), alto Romina Boscolo (Aliyah) and bass baritone Florian Küppers (Omid). Albert Horne conducts the Chorus of the Hessisches Staatstheater and the Hessisches Staatsorchester. Johanna Wehner directs.

The performance should last about 95 minutes.

Today : World première of 'Glare' by Søren Nils Eichberg in London

Today, the first opera by Danish composer Søren Nils Eichberg, Glare, with a libretto by German poet Hannah Dübgen, will be performed in the Linbury Studio Theatre, at the Royal Opera House.

The original libretto explores a tense web of human relationships and leaves the audience startled and questioning its own observation of the world, and, according to the Royal Opera House website, contains 'adult themes, including sexual violence'.

Glare is a psycho-drama chamber-play with elements of science-fiction which focuses on the relationships between four protagonists. As doubts surface about whether one of the characters is an artificial human, the opera debates reality and its perception, the authenticity of experience, and emotion. It asks what is real and how we can really know who we are. (reproduced from the Music Sales Classical website)

The opera will be performed by the Chroma chamber orchestra, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, and directed by Thaddeus Strassberger. The cast is the following : Sky Ingram (Lea, a young woman, soprano), Amar Muchhala (Alex, a man in his prime, tenor), Clare Presland (Christina, Alex's ex-girlfriend, mezzo), and Ashley Riches (Michael, Alex's older-brother-like friend, baritone).
The orchestra consists of 1 flute, 1 bass clarinet, 1 contrabassoon, 1horn, 1 trombone, percussion, synthesizer and strings (1 violin, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 doublebass). The opera should last about 75 minutes.

Autumn 2014 season at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London

As usual, the season 2014-2015 at Covent Garden will be a busy one, including revivals, new productions and world premières of all kind of operas, at the Royal Opera House, the Linbury Studio (which opened in November 2005) and, for the first time, the Roundhouse in Camden.

During the first part of the season (Autumn 2014), the following operas will be performed :

- Mark-Anthony Turnage : Anna Nicole, conducted by Antonio Pappano, directed by Richard Jones (first performed in February 2011, revival of the original production) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Rigoletto, conducted by Maurizio Benini, directed by David McVicar (revival, first performed in Septembre 2001) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il barbiere di Siviglia, conducted by Mark Elder, directed by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier (revival, first performed in December 2005) ;
- Philip Glass : The Trial, conducted by Michael Rafferty, directed by Michael McCarthy (world première in October 2014 at the Linbury Studio Theatre) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : I due Foscari, conducted by Antonio Pappano, directed by Thaddeus Strassberger (advertised as a new production, but already performed in Los Angeles in September 2012 and in Vienna last January) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : La Scala di seta, conducted by Jonathan Santagada, directed by Greg Eldridge (new production at the Linbury Studio Theatre) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Idomeneo, conducted by Marc Minkowski, directed by Martin Kusej (new production, to be later performed in Lyon) ;
- Søren Nils Eichberg : Glare, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, directed by Thaddeus Strassberger (world première in November 2014 in the Linbury Studio Theatre) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'elisir d'amore, conducted by Daniele Rustioni, directed by Laurent Pelly (revival, first performed in Paris in May 2006, already performed in London in November 2007) ;
- Claudio Monteverdi : L'Orfeo, conducted by Christian Curnyn, directed by Michael Boyd (new production in Camden).

Only Italian and English languages will be used on stage during the first part of the season, but operas in German, Polish and French are scheduled later. The small number of languages is compensated by the variety of style, ranging from baroque to romantic.