Staatsoper Unter den Linden and BMW invite you to STAATSOPER FÜR ALLE on 12 and 13 July 2024 on Bebelplatz – with the live broadcast of the cinematic opera MELANCHOLIE DES WIDERSTANDS conducted by Marie Jacquot and the open-air live concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Christian Thielemann.
Image above: Exterior view Berlin Staatsoper, photo Marcus Ebener
On Friday, 12 July 2024 at 19:00, the performance of Marc-André Dalbavie’s latest opera MELANCHOLIE DES WIDERSTANDS – which was commissioned by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and will have its world premiere on 30 June – will be broadcast live from the opera house to Bebelplatz. Based on the novel of the same name by Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, director David Marton is staging this new work as a filmic opera in close collaboration with video artist Chris Kondek. In this live work of art, techniques from music theatre and cinema come together: Using the medium of film, David Marton and Chris Kondek intend to bring the impressive, detailed and reflective literary descriptions of the characters and their living spaces to the large opera stage.
A parable of contemporary society, MELANCHOLY OF RESISTANCE observes an unlocatable small town and its bizarre inhabitants, over which a threatening, diffuse feeling settles – with the arrival of a mysterious troupe of carnies, whose main attraction is a stuffed whale and a tiny duke, the world finally seems to come apart at the seams.
David Marton: “In this peripheral city full of self-contained trains of thought, we search for light, for hope, and find it at best in the eyes of the people.”
The ensemble includes Tanja Ariane Baumgartner and Matthias Klink as the separated couple Angèle and Georges Esther, Sandrine Piau in the role of Rosi Pflaum and the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, who can be heard as their son Valouchka in a particularly interesting role composed especially for him. The Staatskapelle Berlin will be conducted by Marie Jacquot.
For the finale of the concert season, STAATSOPER FÜR ALLE will perform a free live concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin on Bebelplatz on Saturday, 13 July from 20:00. The traditional open-air concert will be performed for the first time under the musical direction of the designated General Music Director Christian Thielemann. The programme includes Richard Wagner’s overture to “Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg” and “Eine Alpensinfonie” op. 64 by Richard Strauss. The children’s opera orchestra, conducted by Giuseppe Mentuccia, and the children’s choir under the direction of Vinzenz Weissenburger will perform works by Antonín Dvořák in the “pre-programme” from 6.00 pm.
STAATSOPER FÜR ALLE has attracted well over half a million visitors since 2007 and has been the cornerstone of the long-standing partnership between the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and BMW for over a decade.
WHEN?
Opening: Friday, 12 July 2024, 7 pm
Opera children’s orchestra and children’s choir: Saturday, 13 July 2024, 6-6:45 pm
Open-air concert: Saturday, 13 July 2024, 8 pm
WHERE?
Babelplatz
Unter den Linden 9
10117 Berlin
