2023-09-16 21:16:31
With a spectacular production of Hans Werner Henze’s “The Raft of the Medusa”, the Komische Oper Berlin started the period without its main building, which was in need of renovation. Tobias scratch, designated artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera, realized the approximately 90-minute oratorio in a huge hangar at the disused Tempelhof Airport.
The elaborate work with an artistic ensemble of around 200 people consisting of soloists, choir and orchestra under the direction of Titus Engel as well as numerous extras was celebrated by the audience at the premiere last night.
Shipwreck during colonial mission
Like the famous Louvre work “The Raft of the Medusa” by the French painter Theodore Gericault (1791–1824), which became a stage set, Henze refers to a shipwreck during a colonial mission. Many of the survivors are largely left to fend for themselves. Parallels to the situation of refugees on the Mediterranean come to mind. The play questions human relationships in times of scarcity with betrayal, oppression and the fight for survival.
Henze linked his work to the student movement at the end of the 1960s. The premiere planned in Hamburg in 1968 was extremely controversial on the right and left. After protests, riots and police intervention, the performance was canceled.
Water basin as a stage
krater’s production uses a huge pool of water as a stage for Charon’s (Idunnu Münch) descriptions of the raft and the “far too many” lured by death (Gloria Rehm). The third solo voice belongs to the sailor Jean-Charles (Günter Papendell), who will discover the saving ship but will not survive either.
The Komische Oper is one of three major opera houses in Berlin. The building near Friedrichstrasse is to be renovated, converted and expanded. The current cost planning is 478 million euros, but this could become significantly more expensive for the listed building ensemble.
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