(Picture Credit @Wonge Bergmann) What happens when opera is pushed to the far reaches of the socially acceptable, artistically expected, narratively conventional, and formally structured? You end up with controversial productions, reconstructed variations of well-known stories, and strange configurations of unknown ones. One may remember what happened not so long ago with Stutgart’s “Sancta Susanna” or, longer ago, Adams’ “The {…}
Manhattan School of Music is set to present Viktor Ullmann and Peter Kien’s “Der Kaiser von Atlantis.” The company will be presented on April 9 and 10 at the MSM Opera Theatre. Djordje Nesic conducts and will be directed by John De los Santos. “Der Kaiser von Atlantis” was written in 1942 by Ullmann and Kein while imprisoned in the {…}
(Photo Credit: Joerg Metzner) During World War II (1939-1945), dictator Adolph Hitler of Germany instituted the practice of concentration camps and ghettos in order to try and exterminate non-Arayan populations including gypsies, gays, Jews, Russians, and many ethnic groups. Thankfully, he did not succeed. But, the lasting scars of Nazi Germany have forever shaped our understanding of each other and {…}
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is set to present its program “Total Immersion: Music for the End of Time” on Jan. 23, 2022 in Barbican Hall. Events for Total Immersion Day will begin that morning at 10:30 a.m. with the showing of the film “The Music of Terezín.” The first concert starts at 1:30 p.m. featuring “The Theresienstadt Orchestra,” followed by {…}
The Opera Department and Chamber Orchestra of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music are set to present their first virtual performance with “Der Kaiser von Atlantis,” the only opera by composer Viktor Ullmann and librettist Peter Kien. While the opera was rehearsed in the ghetto of Theresienstadt in 1944, it was never never given a performance during Ullmann and Kien’s {…}
(Credit: Esmeralda Martin) The Teatro Español has announced that it will present the European premiere of Campbell, Reed, and Kaminsky’s “As One” on September 24, 2020 in a co-production with the Teatro Arriaga. The opera will spotlight mezzo-soprano Inés Olabarria-Smith and baritone Enrique Sánchez-Ramos. The Bauhaus String Quartet will accompany the two singers. Carlos Calvo Tapia will conduct the production {…}