Press release dated 18/3/2015/acr The 2015/16 season – Continuing the tradition 8 new stage productions, 3 concert productions, 1 world premiere premi re and 1 German premiere, re, 3 festivals, 15 revivals, 32 concerts, and more ... From Tchaikovsky and Spoliansky via Marschner and Massenet, to Kats-Chernin Chernin and HK Gruber – from operas and operettas to revues and musicals: In their fourth season, Artistic Director Barrie Kosky, General Musical Director Henrik Nánási and Managing Director Susanne Moser present a varied programme rogramme of new productions at the Komische Oper Berlin, and – in keeping with this opera house’s traditions – reflect as broad a spectrum of musical theatre as possible. Eight stage productions and three concert productions will be premièred this season, including classics as well as new interpretations of famous works, rare operettas, the first Berlin production of Massenet’s fairytale opera Cendrillon, Cendrillon the German premiere of HK Gruber’s Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald (Tales from the Vienna Woods), Woods) and the world premiere re of the new children’s children opera Schneewittchen und die 77 Zwerge (Snow White and the 77 Dwarves). Dwarves) The opera house’s ensemble, which includes Nicole Chevalier, Günter Papendell and Dominik Köninger, is joined by guests such as Dagmar Manzel, Katharine Mehrling, Max Hopp and Geschwister Pfister, in both new and familiar roles. And for the symphony concerts, the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin will be joined by soloists such as Mischa Maisky, Michael Barenboim and Gabriela Montero, as well as by guest conductors including Sir Neville Marriner, Rudolf Buchbinder and Patrick Lange. Numerous successful and exciting productions from recent seasons will be revived, including Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), West Side Story; Eine Frau, die weiß, weiß, was sie will! (A Woman who Knows what she Wants!) and Ball im Savoy (Ball at the Savoy) from the 2014/15 season, and Der feurige Engel (The Fiery Angel), Xerxes, Castor et Pollux and Kiss me, Kate from earlier seasons. The programming’s programming variety reflects the diversity of Berlin and its audience. Barrie Kosky: "The Komische Oper Berlin breathes to the beat of Berlin, in rhythm with its history, its cultural life, and above all its inhabitants." Komische Oper Berlin’s production of Mozart’s Mozart Magic Flute by Barrie Kosky and the British theatre group “1927” continues its success story. After being taken into repertoire by Los Angeles Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Minnesota Opera as well as being performed on tour in Mannheim and St. Pölten, it will be presented presented by Teatro Real Madrid and Finnish National Opera Helsinki in the next season. season In addition, Komische Oper Berlin will show the production on tour at the Edinburgh Festival and in China (Shanghai, ( Xiamen). Stiftung Oper in Berlin/Komische Oper Berlin Behrenstraße 55–57, D-10117 Berlin Press enquiries: +49 (0)30 20260 370 Fax +49 (0)30 20260 366 Dr. Andrea C. Röber Press Officer [email protected] www.komische-oper-berlin.de Season 2015/16 New productions and Offenbach festival Les Contes d’Hoffmann Jacques Offenbach Musical direction Stefan Blunier Staging Barrie Kosky Premiere October 2, 2015 Director Barrie Kosky presents Offenbach’s Offenbach surreal and fantastical story as the disturbing nightmare of an artist who is in danger dange of losing ever more of his own self – in a production with only a single soprano in all three female roles, but a total of seven performers in the Hoffmann role. Here, the title role in the opera’s opera first two acts will be sung for the first time in the piece’s 132-year year performance history in the way that the composer originally planned: by a baritone! Offenbach, the Cologne-born born Jew in Paris, has fused Jewish, German and French elements in his music to form something new, something which shaped the Paris music music scene to such an extent that it today seems genuinely French to us. Schneewittchen und die 77 Zwerge (Snow ( White and the 77 Dwarves) Elena Kats-Chernin Musical direction Pawel Poplawski Staging Christian von Götz World premiere November 1, 2015 201 – Commissioned by Komische Oper Berlin The popular classic fairytale by the brothers Grimm premières in a new, witty and cheeky version for the opera stage. A strong-willed strong willed princess, a dancing white rabbit, a beauty-obsessed beauty stepmother and 77 small helpful dwarves dwar are the protagonists in this fast-paced paced children’s children opera by the Uzbek-Australian Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin. Kats My Fair Lady Frederick Loewe Musical direction Kristiina Poska Staging Andreas Homoki Premiere November 28, 2015 Katharine Mehrling, multiple award winner and a firm favourite with Berlin audiences, as the stubborn and charming Eliza Doolittle, and Max Hopp as the eccentric Professor Higgins in one of the most popular musicals of all time. Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 2 | 12 Professor Henry Higgins, a leading expert in phonetics and a passionate defender of proper elocution, makes a bet with the similarly-minded similarly minded Colonel Pickering: using the young flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who can only express herself in the coarse dialect of the lower classes, Higgins wishes to prove that the brilliant brilliant polish which proper elocution provides opens the doors to the highest echelons of society. Yet what Higgins forgets on his path to success is that Eliza is no guinea pig, but a person – with and without an accent! The Circus Princess (concert performance) per Emmerich Kálmán Musical direction Stefan Soltesz Premiere December 20, 2015 As always in the run-up up to Christmas, we this year usher in a resounding operetta sensation by Emmerich Kálmán! This time it is diseuse Désirée Nick who, in the role of head head animal tamer, presents the 90-minute-long long programme of the Stanislawski circus in her accustomed cheeky manner. And conductor Stefan Soltesz takes on the role of the (sound) magician who has the knack of wringing ever-new new effects from Kálmán’s Kálmán score. Following on from The Yankee Princess and Countess Maritza,, the dream team of KálmánKálmán Brammer-Grünwald Grünwald was able to achieve another global hit with The Circus Princess,, which just two months after its celebrated première in Vienna in 1926 was also able to take take the Metropol Theatre (what is today the Komische Oper Berlin) by storm. Kálmán lovers can feast their ears on soulful melodies such as »Two fairytale eyes« and »One day my time will come«, and numbers which evoke the world of the circus, such as »The little lit girls in tights«. Jewgeni Onegin (Eugene Eugene Onegin) Onegin Pjotr I. Tschaikowski Musical direction Henrik Nánási Staging Barrie Kosky Premiere January 31, 2016 Artistic director and head director Barrie Kosky takes on one of the greatest unhappy love stories off operatic literature: Tchaikovsky’s Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin.. Following on from his comedic Don Giovanni in the previous season, baritone Günter Papendell once more proves his range as a vocalist and actor in the role of the titular hero who suffers as a result of his his own arrogance. It was not the stuff of grand opera, but the emotions of real people, »a conflict which truly touches me«, which inspired Tchaikovsky when he achieved the first great success of his operatic career with Eugene Onegin. Onegin Poetic richness was more important to the composer than a fast-paced paced dramatic plot. Warm, heart-felt heart felt melodies, choruses in the Russian folk tradition and a richly instrumented orchestral sound spirit audiences away into the inner worlds of the protagonists, who – as so often with Tchaikovsky – cannot escape their destiny. Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 3 | 12 Fantasio (concert performance) performance Jacques Offenbach Musical direction Titus Engel Premiere February 13, 2016 A première after 125 years! For the first time, Offenbach’s Offenbach opéra comique Fantasio will sound the wayy the composer originally intended: with a tenor in the title role. Dominique Horwitz, an actor and chansonnier with French roots, leads us through the plot about an unhappy princess and her student admirer. Life punishes those who arrive late – this is sometimes metimes also true of high art! Due to the Franco-Prussian War, Fantasio was first staged in 1872, some two years after it was completed. The composer’s utterly romantic world view had become completely superannuated in the break-neck neck course of events during during those few short years. Over a hundred years had to pass before people learned to appreciate this work with different eyes and ears. This is both a revival and a new discovery at once! Der Vampyr (The Vampire) nach Heinrich Marschner Musical direction Antony tony Hermus Staging Antú Romero Nunes Premiere March 20, 2016 Heinrich Marschner’s The Vampire is viewed as the epitome of German Gothic romance. Drawing on Carl Maria von Weber’s Weber The Marksman,, Marschner goes in search of a musical language for the dark and d the demonic, and in doing so paves the way for Richard Wagner. The young director Antú Romero Nunes uses Marschner’s Marschner grand romantic opera as the starting point for a captivating journey into the eerie realm of the pale, bloodsucking seducer of women. Warning: ning: you may get goosebumps! In recent years, director Antú Romero Nunes has above all made a name for himself with imaginative and unconventional treatments of classics such as Schiller’s The Robbers at the Maxim Gorki Theatre, and Don Juan. Last Party and Moby Dick at the Thalia Theater Hamburg. In his engagement with Marschner’s Marschner opera, he works together with Dessau’s general music director, Antony Hermus, as the Master of Ceremonies in order to explore the heart of the vampire myth in all its various iterations it – and the audience’s enjoyment of the thrill provided by fear! Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 4 | 12 Die Geschwister Pfister in Heute Nacht oder nie (Tonight Tonight or Never) Ne – The Spoliansky-Revue Musical direction Kai Tietje Staging Stefan Huber Premiere April 19, 2016 Following their overwhelming success in the operetta Clivia,, the Geschwister Pfister (the Pfister siblings) and actor Stefan Kurt return with an homage to the master of entertaining, satirical cabaret songs and the great revues of the Weimar Republic: an opulent proscenium prosceniu show with famous and less famous jewels written by the Jewish-Russian Jewish Russian composer Mischa Spoliansky. He was one of the greats of the Weimar Republic – and yet he never achieved the same acclaim as his rival, Friedrich Hollaender, alongside whom Mischa Spoliansky Spoliansky performed and composed each evening in Max Reinhardt’s Reinhardt famous cabaret »Schall und Rauch« in the cellar of the Großes Schauspielhaus. Like Friedrich Hollaender and so many others, Spoliansky, a Russian-born born Jew who had lampooned the threat of the »brown »brown might«, had to flee Germany after the National Socialists came to power. Due to his international fame, he was able to continue his career in exile in England, working predominantly as a film composer. He died in 1985 in London at the age of 86. His melodies mel have long since been immortalised. Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald (Tales ( from the Vienna Woods) HK Gruber Musical direction Hendrik Vestmann Staging Michał Zadara Premiere May 22, 2016 Ödön von Horváth’s deeply melancholic folk piece, which premièred at the Deutsches Theater in 1931 under the artistic directorship of Max Reinhardt, in a scoring by the Austrian composer KH Gruber. This opera, which premièred premièred to great acclaim at the Bregenz Festival in July 2014, will be performed in Germany for the first time at the Komische Oper Berlin in a production by the young Polish director Michał Zadara, who will thereby also be giving his German début as an operaa director. On the banks of the »beautiful blue Danube«, the toy merchant Leopold, known as the »king of magic«, is celebrating the betrothal of his daughter Marianne to the upstanding butcher Oskar. Her encounter with the sensitive dreamer Alfred gives Marianne rianne the courage to perform an act of self-determination: self determination: virtually overpowered by a passion she has hitherto never experienced, Marianne breaks off her engagement in order to find happiness by Alfred’s side. Yet the dream of happiness is all too soon overtaken o ertaken by reality ... Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 5 | 12 Le clemenza di Tito (concert performance) performance Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Musical direction Henrik Nánási Premiere May 27, 2016 Emperor Titus becomes embroiled in a musical thriller involving love, intrigue, political power struggles and hubris ris in ancient Rome. Following productions of his early works Il re pastore and Lucio Silla in the preceding two seasons, Mozart’s Mozart penultimate opera, written at the same time as The Magic Flute,, is now to receive its concert performance. Cendrillon (Cinderella) Jules Massenet Musical direction Henrik Nánási Staging Damiano Michieletto Premiere June 12, 2016 Damiano Michieletto is one of the world’s world most sought-after after young directors. His production of La Bohème at the Salzburg Festival was highly acclaimed both by audiences and the press. The Venice-born born Michieletto will introduce himself to Berlin audiences with a piece whose story is known to all but whose music may still be unfamiliar to many: Cendrillon (Cinderella), (Cinderella) with a magically romantic score by Jules J Massenet. Massenet emphasises the magical and dreamlike qualities of the story, wholly focusing in his version on the happiness of the two lovers and the threats that happiness faces. The airy orchestral sounds so typical of latelate Romantic French opera make the prince and Cinderella appear as beings from a world which seems to represent a bare caricature of now questionable norms and values, while also artfully referencing and exaggeratedly parodying Baroque musical forms. Offenbach Festival 10.2.2016—17.2.2016 For an entire week, the "Mozart of the Champs-Elysée" Champs – Jacques Offenbach – will reign supreme at the Behrenstraße. The Komische Oper Berlin presents four very different works by this composer: his opéra bouffe La Belle-Hélène, created during thee era of his great operetta successes; his posthumously premièred fantastical opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann – both productions staged by artistic director and head director Barrie Kosky – and two rare concert performances: the opéra comique Fantasio and, as a late-night operetta, the single--act Mr Choufleuri’s Salon. Jacques Offenbach, who was born in Cologne in 1819 and who in the Paris of the Second Empire achieved global acclaim as the grand master of "little" musical theatre, has gone down in the annals off cultural history as the father of operetta in particular. The fact that his Les Contes d’Hoffmann,, which today forms part of the standard repertoire of international opera houses, was not his only attempt at the "grand" genre is less well-known. well known. Alongside Alongsid The Rhine Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 6 | 12 Nixies,, whose fairy music Offenbach reused as a barcarole in Les Contes d’Hoffmann,, his most ambitious attempt at opéra comique, Fantasio, is particularly worthy of attention – it is an unfairly forgotten masterpiece! The week-long week programme is complemented by expert talks given by renowned experts on the life and works of Jacques Offenbach. For full information on the Komische Oper Berlin programme for the 2015/16 seasons including all festivals and concerts please visit www.komische-oper-berlin.de. www.komische Press contact Dr. Andrea C. Röber, Press officer Phone (030) 20 260 370 Fax (030) 20 260 366 E-Mail a.roeber@komische-oper oper-berlin.de Newsroom: www.komische-oper oper-berlin.de/newsroom Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 7 | 12 Season 2015/16 Numbers and facts Number of performances Total of performances on the main stage and in the foyer: foyer Opera, operetta, musical etc. Concerts and special events 178 48 Guided tours 74 Extras: Introduction matinees After Show Lounges After show talk “Nachgefragt“ Workshops (for under 18s) Salon of the Komische Oper Berlin and the Schering Foundation 7 14 7 350 4 Staatsballett Berlin: Vielfältigkeit. Formen von Stille und Leere Ghosts (Norwegian Norwegian National Ballet) 18 2 11 premieres Les Contes d’Hoffmann 2 October 2015 Schneewittchen und die 77 Zwerge (Snow White and the 77 Dwarves) 1 November 2015 My Fair Lady 28 November 2015 Die Zirkusprinzessin (The Circus Princess) – concert performance 20 December 2015 Jewgeni Onegin (Eugene Onegin) 31 January 2016 Fantasio – concert performance 13 February 2016 Der Vampyr 20 March 2016 Heute Nacht oder nie – Die Spoliansky-Revue Spoliansky 1 April 2016 Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald 22 May 2016 La clemenza di Tito – concert performance 27 May 2016 Cendrillon (Cinderella) 12 June 2016 Last update:: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! 8 | 12 15 revivals Ball im Savoy (Ball at the Savoy) 10 September 2015 Giulio Cesare in Egitto 11 September 2015 West Side Story 8 October 2015 Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will! (A A Woman whon knows what she wants!) 24 October 2015 Die schöne Helena (La Belle-Hélène) Hélène) 6 November 2015 Hänsel und Gretel 6 December 2015 Der feurige Engel (The Fiery Angel) 10 December 2015 Kiss me, Kate 7 January 2016 Xerxes 5 February 2016 Das Gespenst von Canterville (TheCanterville Ghost) 25 February 2016 Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) 24 March 2016 Don Giovanni 15 April 2016 Clivia 22 April 2016 Die Hochzeit des Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) 1 May 2016 Castor et Pollux 22. June 2016 Development of attendance and number of performances 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/2015 Sep 14 to Feb 15 Percentage of total seats sold 65,78 % Visitors 166.436 Performances 228 75,04 % 183.336 226 84,89 % 214.846 239 93,94 % 125.896 125 Economic key numbers 2014 201 Finances Public funding: Earnings through ticket sales etc.: etc. Staff Total: Ensemble: Opernstudio (Young singers’ programme): programme) Orchestra academy: Orchestra: Chorsolisten (choir): Last update: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! hange! 31 mio € 9,1 mio € 420 (on average) from 26 countries 22 5 7 112 60 9 | 12 Season 2015/16 Barrie Kosky Artistic istic Director (Intendant and Chefregisseur) Barrie Kosky has been the Artistic Director (Intendant and Chefregisseur) of the Komische Oper Berlin since 2012. 2012 At the end of his first season the Komische Oper was voted »Opera House of the Year« from 50 international int opera journalists. Barrie Kosky’s work in Berlin has included The Monteverdi Trilogy, The Magic Flute, Ball im Savoy, Rusalka, Iphigenie in Tauris, Kiss Me,Kate, Rigoletto, The Marriage of Figaro, Seven Deadly Sins, West Side Story, Story La Belle-Hélène; Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will! (A woman who knows what she wants!) and Le Grand Macabre. In 2015 he will also be staging Schönberg’s Schönberg Moses und Aron, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Future plans include opera productions at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Teatro Real Madrid, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Opernhaus Oper Zürich, Oper Frankfurt, the Finnish National Opera and Los Angeles Opera. In 2017 he will stage Wagner’s The Mastersingers of Nuremberg at the Bayreuth Festival. Barrie Kosky hass directed productions for the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Netherlands Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Los Angeles Opera, English National Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Oper Graz, Staatsoper Hannover, Aalto Oper Essen, Deutsches Theater Th Berlin, Schauspielhaus Frankfurt. Barrie Kosky was Artistic Director of the Schauspielhaus Vienna from 2001-2005, 2001 2005, Artistic Director of the 1996 Adelaide Festival and has directed opera and theatre productions for Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Compa Melbourne Theatre Company and the Sydney and Melbourne International Festivals. Productions directed by Barrie Kosky: Premieres Les Contes d‘Hoffmann Jacques Offenbach Conductor Stefan Blunier Premiere 2 October 2015 Last update: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! hange! 10 | 12 Jewgeni Onegin Pjotr I. Tschaikowski Conductor Henrik Nánási Premiere 31 January 2016 Revivals 2015/16 Ball im Savoy Paul Abraham Conductor Adam Benzwi Revival 10 September 2015 West Side Story Leonard Bernstein Musikalische Leitung Kristiina Poska/Koen Schoots Staging Barrie Kosky, Ottoo Pichler Revival 8 October 2015 Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will! (A Woman who Knows what she Wants!) Oscar Straus Conductor Adam Benzwi Revival 24 October 2015 Die schöne Helena (La Belle-Hélène) Hélène) Jacques Offenbach Conductor Kristiina Poska Revival 6 November 2015 Kiss me, Kate Cole Porter Conductor Koen Schoots Revival 7 January 2016 Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Conductor Henrik Nánási/Hendrik Vestmann Staging Suzanne Andrade (»1927«) und Barrie Kosky Revival 24 March 2016 Last update: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! hange! 11 | 12 Die Hochzeit des Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Conductor N. N. Revival1 June 2016 Castor et Pollux Jean-Philippe Rameau Conductor Christian Curnyn Revival 22 June 2016 Presscontact Dr. Andrea C. Röber, Press officer cer Phone (030) 20 260 370 Fax (030) 20 260 366 oper-berlin.de E-Mail a.roeber@komische-oper Newsroom: www.komische-oper oper-berlin.de/newsroom Last update: 18 March 2015 /Subject to change! hange! 12 | 12
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