July brings a new opera: On 8 July 2021 – nearly as planned – the world premiere of Paradiese will take to the stage. It’s a four-act opera by Gerd Kühr, set to a libretto by author Hans-Ulrich Treichel, directed by Barbora The present day and older German-German history that mark the city of Berlin ebb and flow into one another, in scenes that are both historically realistic and surrealistic.  Gerd Kühr says, “The music is a continuously flowing stream in the middle of an uneasy web of time and place. It provides stability, creates continuity, and, in a way, provides a sense of timelessness.”  This opera tells the initiation story of a young man named Albert, set against the backdrop of a divided Germany. The setting is the city of Berlin. We’re taken on a journey: to West Berlin in the 1970s, to a mythological time on the No-man’s land of the Peacock Island, to the pre-unification theater scene in West Berlin, and to the years after the fall of the Wall. Four female figures represent four the different stages of our jouney: Lise, a political science student; Friederike, a dental student; Marie, an actress; and Anna, a young woman from East Berlin. Barbora Horáková directs, with her team Aida-Leonor Guardia (set) and Eva Butzkies (costumes). Ulf Schirmer conducts the Gewandhaus orchestra.

Currently, and accordance with the City’s Public Health Department, the Opera House can offer 563 seats (of 1243). Information about the hygienic measures are available online. For each ticket purchased, individuals will be asked for a name and address: in short, each ticket will be personalized. The Oper’s flexible booking system provides automatic distancing calculations that account for couples and small groups, eliminating the need for a checkerboard seating system.

PARADIESE world premiere on Friday, 9 July 2021, 7.30 p.m. Two more performances on 10 July 2021 7 p.m., and 11 July 2021 6 p.m.

www.oper-leipzig.de