Opera
Il Prigioniero
& Das Gehege
Luigi Dallapiccola, Wolfgang Rihm
‘Hope: the final torture...’ Ever since a jailer called him ‘brother’, a prisoner has hope that he will be freed. The door of his cell, however, opens to reveal a long corridor that leads to the stake – the illusion of freedom thus becomes, for him, the ultimate torture. At La Monnaie, the conductor Franck Ollu and the stage director Andrea Breth recently gave us an acclaimed version of Jakob Lenz by Wolfgang Rihm, a composer with whom they now collaborate again. Alongside the 20th century masterpiece Il prigioniero by Luigi Dallapiccola, they give us Das Gehege by Rihm, in which a woman frees an eagle from its cage before killing it. The flamboyant lyricism of Dallapiccola is followed by the poetic twilight world of Rihm. The two works form a diptych that explores the ambivalent relationship between the victim and the executioner as well as general questions about personal freedom and the possible dead ends in our so-called free world.
* Warning. During the performance of Das Gehege there is repeated use of stroboscopic effects. We would like to warn people who are sensitive to this kind of lighting effect that they may experience some discomfort or in extreme cases risk suffering a seizure.
Synopsis
Il prigioniero and Das Gehege: two stories about violence, captivity, and ambivalent relations between victims and jailers. When a warden calls him ‘brother’, the prisoner in Il prigioniero hopes he will be freed. The door of his cell is left ajar, but opens onto a long corridor that leads straight to the stake. The illusion of freedom turns out to be one last form of torture before his execution. In Das Gehege [‘The Cage’], a woman frees an eagle from its cage at night. The bird has an erotic fascination for the woman, who fantasises about being lacerated by his talons. Once the raptor is free, however, he turns out to be old and feeble and she immediately decides to shoot him.
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Gallery
Dates
-
Tue 16 Jan 2018
Time
20:00
Venue
-
Thu 18 Jan 2018
Time
20:00
Venue
-
Fri 19 Jan 2018
Time
20:00
Venue
-
Sun 21 Jan 2018
Time
15:00
Venue
-
Tue 23 Jan 2018
Time
20:00
Venue
-
Thu 25 Jan 2018
Time
20:00
Venue
-
Sat 27 Jan 2018
Time
20:00
Venue
Cast
ConductorFRANCK OLLU
DirectorANDREA BRETH
Set designMARTIN ZEHETGRUBER
CostumesNINA VON MECHOW
LightingALEXANDER KOPPELMANN
DramaturgySERGIO MORABITO
Chorus masterMARTINO FAGGIANI
IL PRIGIONIERO
La MadreÁNGELES BLANCAS GULÍN
Il PrigionieroGEORG NIGL
Il Carceriere, Il Grande InquisitoreJOHN GRAHAM-HALL
Primo SacerdoteJULIAN HUBBARD
Secondo SacerdoteGUILLAUME ANTOINE
DAS GEHEGE
Die FrauÁNGELES BLANCAS GULÍN
La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
MM Academy led by Benoît Giaux
ProductionLA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
Co-productionOPER STUTTGART
