conducted by sebastian weigle and directed by

June 14th 2016
ALBAN BERG'S WOZZECK AT OPER FRANKFURT CONDUCTED BY SEBASTIAN WEIGLE AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOF LOY
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to invite you to the opening night (or a later performance) of the twelfth new
production in Oper Frankfurt's 2015/16 season:
Sunday June 26th 2016, at 18.00hrs in the Opera House
Premiere
WOZZECK
Opera in three acts by Alban Berg
Libretto by the composer, based on the play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (1836)
edited by Karl Emil Franzos (1879)
Sung in German with German surtitles
Conductor: Sebastian Weigle
Director: Christof Loy
Stage Designer: Herbert Murauer
Costume Designer: Judith Weihrauch
Lighting Designer: Olaf Winter
Dramaturge: Norbert Abels
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Children's Chorus Master: Markus Ehmann
With generous support from the Frankfurt Patronatsverein – Sektion Oper
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
WOZZECK
Opera in three acts by Alban Berg
Libretto by the composer, based on the play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (1836)
edited by Karl Emil Franzos (1879)
Sung in German with German surtitles
Conductor: Sebastian Weigle
Director: Christof Loy
Stage Designer: Herbert Murauer
Costume Designer: Judith Weihrauch
Lighting Designer: Olaf Winter
Dramaturge: Norbert Abels
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Children's Chorus Master: Markus Ehmann
Wozzeck: Audun Iversen
Drum-Major: Vincent Wolfsteiner
Andres: Martin Mitterrutzner
Captain: Peter Bronder
1st Apprentice: Thomas Faulkner
2nd Apprentice: Iurii Samoilov
The Fool: Martin Wölfel
Marie: Claudia Mahnke
Doctor: Alfred Reiter
Margret: Katharina Magiera
Oper Frankfurt's Chorus, Children's Chorus and Extras; Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
With generous support from the Frankfurt Patronatsverein – Sektion Oper
Wozzeck, by Alban Berg (1885-1935), was inspired by Georg Büchner's play Woyzeck (1836). The world
premiere took place on December 14th 1925 at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin conducted by
Erich Kleiber. The only twelve-tone work, which audiences still relate to strongly today, that can be called a
modern classic. The last new production of Wozzeck at Oper Frankfurt opened on October 6th 1993,
directed by Peter Mussbach and conducted by Sylvain Cambreling.
Wozzeck lives in poverty with Marie and their illegitimate child. For some time he has been haunted by visions
of death and the end of the world, which seem to reflect the hopelessness of his own situation: mocked by his
captain, Wozzeck – in order to earn a little extra money – permits the doctor to carry out medical experiments
on him. Marie is seduced by the Drum-Major. The Captain and Doctor taunt the man they exploit about this
brutally. His visions won't go away. Wozzeck is beaten up by the Drum-Major. He stabs Marie while they are
out walking by the pond at night. Their child hears about his mother's death from his playmates.
The conductor is General Music Director Sebastian Weigle, whose future engagements include
Beethoven's Fidelio and Straussʼ Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A regular guest
at Oper Frankfurt is the director Christof Loy, back at the theatre on Willy-Brandt-Platz for the first time
since his 2014/15 production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Recent projects have included a widely acclaimed
staging of Britten's Peter Grimes at the Theater an der Wien and Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina at De
Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam. The title role is sung by the Norwegian baritone Audun Iversen, replacing
Ensemble Member Johannes Martin Kränzle, who has been ill. Recent engagements have included Germont
in Verdi's La Traviata and the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at Oslo Opera. Two other popular guests
are back: the English tenor Peter Bronder (Captain) and the German countertenor Martin Wölfel (The
Fool). The first of these two artists has been singing Mime in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at La Scala
Milan, and other theatres, and Martin Wölfel can look back on many successful roles in Frankfurt, including
Edgar (Reimann's Lear). Ensemble Member Claudia Mahnke (Marie), who sang Fricka and Waltraute in Der
Ring des Nibelungen again at the 2015 Bayreuth Festival, recently was Herodias in Strauss' Salome at the
Staatsoper in Stuttgart. Other Members of the Ensemble taking part are Vincent Wolfsteiner (Drum-Major),
Martin Mitterrutzner (Andres) and Alfred Reiter (Doctor). All other roles are sung by Members of Oper
Frankfurt's Ensemble and Opera Studio.
This season's Opera Finale is dedicted to the Wiener Moderne (Vienna at the turn of the last century),
which includes Berg and his works.
Premiere: Sunday June 26th 2016, at 18.00hrs in the Opera House
Further performances: June 30th, July 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th 2016
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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