July 15th 2015 OPER FRANKFURT`S 2015/16 SEASON OPENS

July 15th 2015
OPER FRANKFURT'S 2015/16 SEASON OPENS WITH HELMUT LACHENMANN'S
DAS MÄDCHEN MIT DEN SCHWEFELHÖLZERN (THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to invite you to the opening night (or a later performance) of the first new
production in Oper Frankfurt's 2015/16 season:
Friday September 18th 2015, at 19.30hrs in the Opera House
Premiere / First ever performance in Frankfurt
DAS MÄDCHEN MIT DEN SCHWEFELHÖLZERN (THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL)
Music with images by Helmut Lachenmann (*1935)
Text by the composer based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen
and texts by Leonardo da Vinci and Gudrun Ensslin
Performed in German with German surtitles
Conductor: Erik Nielsen
Director: Benedikt von Peter
Stage Designer: Natascha von Steiger
Costume Designer: Cinzia Fossati, Natascha von Steiger
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Video: Bert Zander
Dramaturges: Sylvia Roth, Mareike Wink
ChorWerk Ruhr: Michael Alber
With generous support from the Kulturfond Frankfurt RheinMain
I do hope you might be able to cover this event.
For further information, ordering photographs and reserving your press tickets please
contact me on +49 (0)69 - 212 46 727. My fax number is +49 (0)69 - 212 37 164, or you
can reach me by email: [email protected].
With many thanks in advance for your cooperation and
best wishes
Holger Engelhardt
Pressereferent
Premiere / First ever performance in Frankfurt
DAS MÄDCHEN MIT DEN SCHWEFELHÖLZERN (THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL)
Music with images by Helmut Lachenmann (*1935)
Text by the composer, based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen
and texts by Leonardo da Vinci and Gudrun Ensslin
Performed in German with German surtitles
Conductor: Erik Nielsen / Matthias Hermann
Director: Benedikt von Peter
Stage Designer: Natascha von Steiger
Costume Designer: Cinzia Fossati, Natascha von Steiger
Lighting Designer: Joachim Klein
Video: Bert Zander
Dramaturges: Sylvia Roth, Mareike Wink
ChorWerk Ruhr: Michael Alber
Sopranos: Christine Graham, Yuko Kakuta
Piano: Yukiko Sugawara, Tomoko Hemmi
Shô: Mayumi Miyata
Speaker: Helmut Lachenmann
Actor: Michael Mendl
ChorWerk Ruhr; Oper Frankfurt's Extras; Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
With generous support from the Kulturfond Frankfurt RheinMain
Helmut Lachenmann (*1935) is one of the leading composers of avant-garde music. In his works he strives
to go beyond conventional concepts of music, detaching himself from tonality and pitch. He uses noises as
integral parts of the sound, innovative performing techniques on traditional instruments encourage the
audience to develop a new way of listening. Among the many awards made to this artist was the 2015
Deutsche Musikautoren Prize for his life's work.
„Music with images“ is the subtitle of Lachenmann's main work for the stage Das Mädchen mit den
Schwefelhölzern (The Little Match Girl), which was a great success when it was performed for the first time
on January 26th 1997 at the Hamburg State Opera. Based on the story by the Danish writer Hans Christian
Andersen, Lachenmann links the fate of the central figure with the RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin, from whose
texts, and those by others, he quotes in his libretto. There is no story line as such. The girl's fate is conveyed
through the music, with the audience, seated between various groups of musicians in the auditorium,
becoming part of what is going on around them.
Andersen's little girl, sent out in the winter to sell matches, strikes them one after the other to keep warm but, in
the end, freezes to death from physical and societal cold. While the matches give the child moments of warmth,
they serve Gudrun Ensslin as weapons to be used against the hated system. Benedikt von Peter's production
begins where shops were burning in 1968: in a city, in the centre of society with all its social-political facets.
Conductor of this new production is Frankfurt's former Kapellmeister Erik Nielsen, who will soon be taking
on prominent posts in Bilbao and at Theater Basel. Regisseur Benedikt von Peter has been Opera Director
of Theater Bremen since 2012 and takes over as Intendant of the Lucerne Theatre in 2016. Taking part are
Helmut Lachenmann as the Speaker and the famous German actor Michael Mendl, who appeared in the
World Premiere of Rolf Riehm's Sirenen (Sirens), which opened Oper Frankfurt's 2014/15 season. The rest
of the cast are artists who are already familiar with Lachenmann's work, including the Japanese soprano
Yuko Kakuta and Yukiko Sugawara – Lachenmann's wife – and Tomoko Hemmi on the piano. The Shô,
played by Mayumi Miyata, is a traditional Japanese reed instrument. The ChorWerk Ruhr Vocal Ensemble
have also performed Lachenmann's work before, as has the conductor Matthias Hermann, a pupil of
Lachenmann's who will conduct some of the performances during the run. The American soprano Christine
Graham is appearing at Oper Frankfurt for the first time.
Please note that because of complicated technical reasons the work will only be performed seven times, in
September, „en bloc“. I would also like to draw your attention to three events linked to the production: Opera Extra
on September 6th 2015 at 11.00hrs, Gesprächskonzert with Helmut Lachenmann on September 13th 2015 at
11.00hrs and Opera in Dialogue on September 20th 2015 at 18.30hrs (after the performance that afternoon).
Premiere: Friday September 18th 2015, at 19.30hrs in the Opera House
Further performances: September 20th, (15.30hrs; with free child minding for those aged between 3 and 9),
21st, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 27th 2015
Unless otherwise stated, all performances begin at 19.30hrs
Tickets cost: € 19 to € 165 (with a 12.5% pre-booking fee when not purchased direct from the theatre)
Tickets can be obtained from the usual outlets, by telephone +49 (0)69 – 212 49 49 4 or online
www.oper-frankfurt.de.

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