The Birds
Walter Braunfels
French premiere.
New production by the OnR.
Opera in two acts.
Libretto written by the composer, Walter Braunfels, a free adaptation of Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds.
Premiered at the National Theatre Munich on 30 November 1920.
French premiere.
Infos
Mulhouse
La Filature
Strasbourg
Opéra
With interval
Cast
Musical Director Aziz Shokhakimov Musical Director : 19 and 22 jan., 20 feb. Sora Elisabeth Lee Stage Director Ted Huffman Set Design Andrew Lieberman Costumes Doey Lüthi Lighting Bernd Purkrabek Choreography Pim Veulings Choirmaster Alessandro Zuppardo Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg
Artists
Nightingale Marie-Eve Munger Good Hope Tuomas Katajala Loyal Friend Cody Quattlebaum Prometheus Josef Wagner Hoopoe Christoph Pohl Wren Julie Goussot Eagle Antoin Herrera-López Kessel Zeus Young-Min Suk Le Corbeau Daniel Dropulja Le Flamant rose Namdeuk Lee Les grives Simonetta Cavalli, Nathalie Gaudefroy Les hirondelles Dilan Ayata, Aline Gozlan, Tatiana Zolotikova Danseurs Vladimir Hugot, Toon Lobach, Caroline Roques, Jocelyn Tardieu, Gautier Trischler
Presentation
Disillusioned by the mundanity and mediocrity of life and humankind, Loyal Friend and Good Hope journey to the kingdom of the birds where they aspire to exist on nothing but art and love. There they encounter Hoopoe, the apathetic king who reigns over his colorful feathered subjects. Upon learning that the sky is not the birds' exclusive domain, Loyal Friend urges them to seize power. Harking back to a glorious golden age, he incites them to build a great city in the clouds and intercept the smoke from the sacrifices made to feed the gods who, weakened by famine, will be obliged to kneel before the birds! But beware promises of a rosy future: tomorrow can be cruel. A poetic and captivating libretto accompanied by exuberant and lyrical music, The Birds is a post-romantic adaptation of Aristophanes' ancient comedy in the guise of an animal fable. Composed by Walter Braunfels during the First World War and premiered in Munich in 1920, this sumptuous opera relates with tenderness and melancholy human aspirations and the failure of utopias. It is high time that this 20th-century masterpiece is performed in France.
In German
Overtitled in French, German
