Hans Werner Henze's "Elegy for Young Lovers" will be the second production in the 2023/24 winter semester of the Department of Opera & Music Theatre to take to the stage of the Max Schlereth Saal from 26 January. A conversation with maestro Gernot Sahler about so-called "new music", the major challenges for budding artists and insights into pedagogical practice during rehearsals.
Elegy for young lovers
"What qualities must a person possess in order to dominate both dramaturgically and vocally in an opera?" and "What must a man of mature age look like who is in close relationships with a crazy old lady, a young girl and a doctor at the same time?"
Musical direction
Gernot Sahler
Scenic direction & stage
Alexander von Pfeil
Dramaturgy
Malte Krasting
Costume Design
Eva-Mareike Uhlig
Programme booklet
About
- Opera in three acts
- Libretto by Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Kallman
- Music by Hans Werner Henze (in German)
In the secluded atmosphere of a mountain resort, with the menacing sight of glacier-covered ice, everything revolves around a prince of poets who is desperately worried about his inspiration and writes an "Elegy for Lovers". Hans Werner Henze's intention in his opera "Elegy for Young Lovers", which he first presented at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1961, was to create a field of tension between farce, tragedy, buffa and psychodrama.
The Opera & Music Theatre Department staged Hans Werner Henze's "Künstlerdrama & Psychothriller" (Drehpunkt Kultur) in an abridged version as a rousing opera intermezzo.
Press
Drehpunkt Kultur (24.1.2024):
"Künstlerdrama und Psychothriller" von Gottfried Franz Kasparek
Salzburger Nachrichten (25.1.2024):
"Dem Dichterfürsten fehlt Sinn für Empathie" von Florian Oberhummer
Production & Cast
- Musical direction: Gernot Sahler
- Scenic direction & stage: Alexander von Pfeil
- Costume design: Eva-Mareike Uhlig
- Dramaturgy: Malte Krasting
- Mozarteum University Chamber Orchestra
- Gregor Mittenhofer: Jannik Junzhe Zeng / Jeffrey Herminghaus
- Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann: Volodymyr Morozov / Vsevolod Chernyshev
- Toni Reischmann: Ilyà Dovnar / Vladimír Šlepec
- Elisabeth Zimmer: Nikolett Mráz
- Caroline Gräfin von Kirchstetten: Génesis Beatriz López Da Silva / Agnes Hyunjin Kim
- Hilda Mack: Claire Jungeon Oh / Coco Lau
- Josef Mauer: Jakob Schett
26.1.2024 um 19:00 Uhr
27.1.2024 um 17:00 Uhr
29.1.2024 um 19:00 Uhr (+ Livestream)
30.1.2024 um 19:00 Uhr
Max Schlereth Saal