The Opera #1–#3
2016 – 2020
#1 – At the Circle (To Start With)
After motives from Monteverdi’s “Orfeo”
Premiere:
23 August 2019
at Kunstfest Weimar
The defining character of modern opera contradicts the original intention of its creator, namely to revitalise the ideals of antiquity. At the end of the 16th century, Europe’s bourgeoisie redefined the newlycreated genre: whatever insights were gained about love, murder and manslaughter were sacrificed by the absolute desire for representation.
An irreversible coincidence of music history? The Berlin opera company Novoflot is of a different opinion. In a planned three-year trilogy entitled «The Opera #1 – #3», it looks back at the birth of opera 400 years ago and its founding father, the composer Claudio Monteverdi. Whenaudiences rediscovered Monteverdi in the 20th century, scholars found out that 15 of his operas no longer exist, and their whereabouts are still unknown today. With «The Opera #1 – #3», Novoflot and their coproducers will celebrate the imagined rediscovery of these lost opera works over the next three festival editions and creatively reinterpret the facts that lie at the beginning of operatic history. The project takes Monteverdi’s three known works, and fills in the missing pieces one by one. The production begins with «The Opera #1» featuring a large-scale recitative and singing chorus, solo vocalists, dancers, actors and an instrumental ensemble based on themes from Monteverdi’s «Orfeo». The performance comprises two parts: the first is a choral intervention to be performed at various public squares in town (Theaterplatz, Herderplatz etc.), and the second part will be a performance staged at the E-Werk. Both parts can be attended separately and in any order.
with:
Raphael Clamer Actor
Rafal Dziemidok Dance
Ichi Go Dance
Vicente Larrañaga Conductor
Yuka Yanagihara Soprano
Girls choir of Singakademie zu Berlin
Nils Wogram Trombone
Hayden Chisholm Saxophone, Voice
Eric Schaefer Drums
Antonis Anissegos Harpsichord, Wurlitzer
Chris Dahlgren Viola da Gamba, E-bass, Double bass, Guitar, Voice
Team:
Sven Holm Direction and concept
Vicente Larrañaga Musical direction
Elisa Limberg Stage design
Anne Storandt Co-stage design
Nina von Mechow Costume design
Friederike Stahmer Choir leader
Mirko Borscht Film
Sebastian Bark Artistic advice
Malte Ubenauf Dramaturgy and concept
Ismael Schott Technical direction and light design
Simon Michalke Sound
Dörte Wolter Production management
Philine Reimer Assistant to the director Andrea Tortosa Assistant to the director Emilia Oebel, Lea Kalinna Assistants to the production manager Jola Hauschild Assistant to the costume designer Hans Schauerte, Philip Kießling Video documentation Achim Klapp Press and Public relations Emanuel Tschumi Graphics
#2 – On the Ropes (About the End)
After motives from Monteverdi’s "L’incoronazione di Poppea"
Premiere:
11 September 2020
Kunstfest Weimar / Deutsches National Theater Weimar, main stage
The Berlin opera company NOVOFLOT is developing a three-part cycle with the modest aim of triggering a genre “reboot.” DEUTSCHE BÜHNE magazine described last year’s Kunstfest Weimar premiere of the co-production’s first installation as “a wonderfully inquiring, probing, searching production.”
In this trilogy, based on exploring the work of opera’s “founding father,” Claudio Monteverdi, the artist collective reflects on what path the genre might have taken had more works by the master from Mantua survived – a mere three operas have been preserved, the majority of his œuvre remains lost. Novoflot examines the existing material and asks how differently opera might look and sound today.
Having used “Orfeo” as a sound source to generate a “big bang” of the history of opera in the first part of the cycle, the company will now inspect Monteverdi’s last opera “The incoronation of Poppea” in The Opera #2. This is meant in the truest sense of the word, as NOVOFLOT explores the work by touring the Weimar National Theatre, on an expedition to follow the traces left by rare fragments of undiscovered Monteverdi operas.
A number of internationally renowned jazz soloists will be joined this year by a string orchestra from the Staatskapelle Weimar.
The UK Stage – Die Oper #2 – In den Seilen (Von Ende)
Novoflot’s ingenious opera is a gentle if simple reminder of how
different cultures and epochs can achieve harmony. And no show better
epitomises Hemke’s desire to push Weimar’s cultural taste away from the
past and in more daring directions than On the Ropes (About the End)
Mit:
Antonis Anissegos Composition / Keyboards
Hayden Chisholm Saxophone, Voice
Chris DahlgrenViola da Gamba, E-bass, Double bass, Guitar, Voice
Elisa Fluch Voice
Ichi Go Dance
Rosemary Hardy Voice, Actress
Almut Kühne Voice
Kathrin Pechlof Harp
Eric Schaefer Percussion
as well as members from the Staatskapelle Weimar (Weimar Premiere):
Caterina Frenzel 1st Violine
Johannes Hupach 1st Violine
Maria Kersten 1st Violine
Anna Bellmann 2nd Violine
Katharina Kleinjung 2nd Violine
Astrid Schütte 2nd Violine
Almut Bormann Viola
Veronika Lauer Viola
Cornelia Möbius Viola
Aidos Abdullin Violoncello
Javier Huerta Gimeno Violoncello
Hans-Dieter Koch Double bass
David Mathe Bassoon
as well as Danish National Youth Ensemble (CPH Copenhagen Opera Festival, Volksbühne)
Conduction: Morten Ryelund
Nicole Bronder, Tina Dalgaard, Carl Ryelund, Stefan Enemærke Becker, Borbála Brezovsky, Sarah Junghanns Violine
Katie Le Feuvre, Carmen de la Torre Jiménez, Thorhildur Magnusdottir Viola
Benedikte Dalgas, Anna Rebekka Ross Violoncello
Lars-Bo Hermansen Double bass
Harald Tørning Svendsen Bassoon
Team:
Sven Holm Direction and concept
Vicente Larrañaga Musical direction
Malte Ubenauf Dramaturgy and concept
Nina von Mechow Costume design
Eleonora Pedretti Mitarbeit Bühne
Alex Bloom Light design
Dörte Wolter, Miriam Glöckler & Thorsten Cölle Production management
Alekos Hofstetter Print motives in stage design Ana Cuéllar Velasco Co-Direction and stage management Selina Girschweiler Assistant to the director and stage management Johanna Mertens Assistant to the costume designer Finn Brauckmann Costume production Hans Schauerte, Philip Kießling Video documentation Almuth Pfützenreuter Assistant to the production manager Heike Diehm, k3 berlin Press and public relations
#3 – The Outtakes
with compositions by Antonis Anissegos, Michael Wertmüller and Johnny La Marama
Premiere:
8 September 2021
Kunstfest Weimar, Wimaria Stadion, Weimar
In
a final, the best athletes, scientists or artists compete against each
other. At least that’s how it should be. But aren’t there often barely
measurable nuances that make the difference?
Thousandths of a second or
extremely subjective taste buds of individual jury members that decide
on fame and shame?
Of course! And so it is no wonder that in the finale
of the music theater trilogy “Die Oper #1–#3”, all attention is focused
on the “outtakes” that did not make it to the finals. One can only
vaguely guess how much material remains unconsidered when a film is cut,
a book is edited or a piece of music is produced, and how much heart
and soul goes into such processes. In the end, there is always the
agonizing question of whether the right choice has really been made.
This is how the pioneer of the opera genre, the composer Claudio
Monteverdi (1567–1643), must have felt when he was finalizing his stage
works. How exactly did it happen that countless arias, choruses,
symphonies and recitatives fell by the wayside?
And in which sunken
archives are these “outtakes” kept? There is interesting news about
this, because there is much to suggest that they could resurface more
than 350 years after the death of their creator in order to make their
very own way onto the stages of this world. It is to begin in Weimar.
And in a place where one would not expect to hear opera. There, deep in
the west of the city, Novoflot is ready to receive the “outtakes” and to
initiate the final rewriting of opera history together with them!
A production by Novoflot, Deutsches Nationaltheater & Staatskapelle Weimar and Kunstfest Weimar
Co-production: CPH Opera Festival and Teater Undergrunden
Compositionen:
Antonis Anissegos, Michael Wertmüller and Johnny La Marama (Chris Dahlgren, Kalle Kalima, Eric Schaefer)
With:
Magne-Håvard Brekke Actor
Raphael Clamer Actor
Rosemary Hardy Voice
Ichi Go Dance, Voice
Veronica Lepekha Rhythmic gymnastics
Falko Siewert Photographer
Ensemble DissonArt:
Jannis Anissegos Flute
Alexandros Stavridis Clarinette
Lenio Liatsou Piano
Kostas Argyropoulos Percussion
Theodoros Patsalidis Violin
Vassilis Saitis Violoncello
Yiannis Chatzis Double bass
Johnny La Marama:
Kalle Kalima E-Guitar
Chris Dahlgren E-Bass
Eric Schaefer Drums
Antonis Anissegos Keyboards
Hayden Chisholm Saxophon
Ulrich Holbein Texts
KSVV Weimar Athletes:
Emmanuel Abouem, Ulrike Baldauf, Daria Benne, Lena Benne, Merit
Benne, Lotta Bergedieck, Louis Beuthan, Christina Bräunlich, Susann
Bräunlich, Leticia Conrad, Michel Dau, Ferdinand Eckardt, Pierre
Fischer, Kerstin Fuchs, Rania Grap, Helena Heinemann, Felix Hübner,
Karsten Klose, Arvid Kölpin, Ilvie Krähmer, Elias Kron, Lotta Lerch,
Fabian Lindner, Alina Meier, Nicole Müller, Maurice Noe, Anja Otto,
Marlene Otto, Annabell Recke, Tom Recke, Dirk Reddmann, Julia
Reddmann,
Celine Rettig, Johanna Schneider, Paula Schneider, Wibke Schneider,
Felicitas Schwotzer, Jara Schwotzer, Jele Schwotzer, Andrea Unruh,
Paula
Weeth, Emelie Weschke
Andreas Huke, Angela Kovac, Sirid Rosenbaum Runners
Tom Holley, Jens Schröter, Kirsten Schröter Coaches
Mellingen Marching Band:
Donald Axthelm, Oliver Axthelm, Jacqueline Burckhardt, Ralph
Burckhardt, Frank Erbse, Birgit Hänsgen, Sabine Hänsgen, Tina Hollunder,
Carmen König, Lukas König, Robert Kurze, Dirk Lisker, Uta Loch, Heiko
Mordt, Domenik Müller, Ivonne Müller, Luisa Müller, Ann Marie Roob,
Johanna Roob, Josephine Schuchardt, Karin Walther, Jessica Ziegler,
Melanie Ziegler, Nils Zimmermann
Team:
Sven Holm Direction and concept
Vicente Larrañaga Musical direction
Malte Ubenauf Dramaturgy and concept
Elisa Limberg Stage design
Nina von Mechow Costume design
Mirko Borscht Video
Ismael Schott Light design
Karl Schüller Sound
Dörte Wolter & Thorsten Cölle Production management
Jacopo Salvatori Musikalische Assistant to the musical director & Coaching Ella Haid-Schmallenberg, Selina Girschweiler Assistant to the director & evening supervisors Sarah Asante Ntiamoah Assistant to the stage designer Johanna Mertens, Eleonora Pedretti Assistant to the costume designer Thorsten Möller Assistant to the sound designer Helen Ehrhardt Assistant to the director DNT Almuth Pfützenreuter Assistant to the production manager Falko Siewert Photos Hans Schauerte, Philip Kießling Video documentation Heike Diehm k3 berlin Press and public relations Tina Agency Tour Management
