Orpheus In The Land Of The Living: A smuggler's opera

music theatre

Europe closes up. The wish to be separated from the huge landmass in the East seems to grow stronger and stronger. In the southeast, a river which flows through three countries assumes this separating role: Evros / Meriç / Marica in Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian. As part of Europe’s external border, the river gained tragic notoriety when numerous dead bodies were found on its shores. People were drowning or became victims of the mine fields.
Since Frontex has started reinforcing this part of the border with high fences, refugees try and flee across the Mediterranean again. The border region remains no man’s land. The river delta is a nature reserve, one of the most important ornithological areas in the world. It is the ancient Thrace, already in Greek mythology an archaic foreign country. One day this could be part of Europe, but until now it still lies (partially) outside. Europe presented from the perspective of its myths: The route into Europe turns into the path to the underworld, into the realm of the dead. Orpheo’s head was drifting in the river Evros after the Erinyes had torn his body apart. Orpheus' song – since Monteverdi a metaphor for opera itself – turns into lament. But the Erinyes, those furies, who could not be soothed by his singing, do not originate from some archaic past, but belong to a future civilization: our present. At the same time one needs to ask whether it should not rather be the citizens of Europe who should be scared of the goddesses of vengeance. The confrontation of the mythical region with the current reality – that of a torn-apart body of a mythical figure with the torn-apart bodies of nameless immigrants poses a challenge we need to meet: remembering Orpheus.

Cast

Artistic Direction: Nicola Nord, Alexander Karschnia, Sascha Sulimma

Conceived and performed by:
Irida Baglanea, Bora Balci, Knut Berger, Juliane Hahn, Alexander Karschnia, Claudia Splitt, Komi Mizrajim Togbonou&Co.
Music: Sascha Sulimma with Georg A. Bochow, Susanne Fröhlich, Simon Lenski, Reinier van Houdt
Text: Alexander Karschnia&Co.
Set/Costume Design: Jan Brokof, João Loureiro&Co.
Light Design: Gregor Knüppel&Co.
Technical Director: Marc Zeuske
Company Management/Administration: Katja Sonnemann, Sigrid Hilmer
Production Assistant: Juliane Hahn
Assistant Set Design: Katharina Korth
Assistant Costumes: Denise Majer

A Production by andcompany&Co. in co-production with HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), steirischerherbst Graz, Hippodrome Scène nationale de Douai, Mousonturm Frankfurt/Main,  FFT Düsseldorf, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr and Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster.

Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs.

 

 

  • Bora Balci

    Born in Turkey in 1984, the baritone Bora Balci graduated from Ankara Hacettepe University State Conservatory in 2010 and Opera Studio Nederland in 2012. He participated in masterclasses by Tom Krause (Mozarteum 2008) and Ewa Czermak (Koscezin 2009) among others. Bora is the winner of several national and international competitions, such as the 5th Halina-Halska Fijalkowska in Poland.
    Since 2011 he has been working with Opera Studio Nederland and performed at the Rotterdam Operadagen in 2012. With Nationale Reisopera Nederland he toured internationally as ‘Marcello’ in ‘La Bohème’. Bora is also a member of Home Opera in Germany and currently lives  in Enschede (NL).

  • Georg A. Bochow

    Born in Berlin, the half german, half russian Countertenor Georg-Arssenij Bochow started singing in the Berliner Staats- und Domchor and continued his career in Stuttgart, under the guidance of Dorothea Gloger and especially the Altus Matthias Rexroth, as a countertenor.
    His studies, taken up in 2011 with Prof. Renate Faltin at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, have been complemented by various masterclasses, i.a. studying and performing Händels Rinaldo in concert with the Lautten-Compagney under the direction of Wolfgang Katschner and Johanette Zomer. Georg Bochow has also taken part in numerous productions of the HfM Hanns Eisler, including the latest world premiere of Evan Gardners Die Unterhändlerin at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

  • Jan Brokof

    Jan Brokof was born in Schwedt/Oder in 1977 and studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts from 1999 to 2004. He became known for the replica of his own bedsit and won the Marion-Ermer-Prize in 2005. Numerous solo and group exhibitions, for instance at Folkwang Museum Essen and Leonhardi Museum Dresden, and since 2010 collaborations with andcompany&Co. as performer and stage designer for FatzerBraz in São Paulo and as stage designer for productions at DT Göttingen (Wunderkinder and Zur Sache!) as well as for the two recent productions  „Der (kommende) Aufstand nach Friedrich Schiller“ (2012) und „Black Bismarck“ (2013).
    Brokof was awarded the Otto-Dix-Prize in 2012. He lives and works in Berlin and is represented by Galeria Baer

     

  • Susanne Fröhlich

    Susanne Fröhlich (b. 1979 in Passau, Germany) studied the recorder with Paul Leenhouts at Amsterdam Conservatory, where she obtained an artistic-pedagogical diploma and, subsequently, a Master of Music Diploma with distinction in 2004. She went on to study with Prof. Gerd Lünenbürger at Berlin University of the Arts, where she obtained her Konzertexamen diploma with distinction in June 2008.Susanne regularly performs recitals and teaches workshops in Europe and overseas. She appears both as soloist and as a member of the recorder quartet QNG – Quartet New Generation and the Ensemble U3 (featuring recorder, cello and harpsichord). She has participated in a number of world premieres at renowned European venues and festivals with ICTUS Ensemble, Neue Vokalsolisten, Collegium Novum Zürich and Ensemble adapter (among others) and performed at e.g. ARGE Salzburg, Burcknerhaus Linz, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Gasteig Munich, Konzerthaus Berlin, Merkin Recital Hall, Radialsystem V Berlin, Southern Theatre Minneapolis.Susanne has won a number of scholarships and international competitions in Darmstadt, Göttingen, Berlin, Bonn, New York, Cracow and Rotterdam. The four Berlin Universities of the Arts granted her a Young Talents‘ Advancement Scholarship in 2006/2007.She is living and teaching in Berlin and won a lectureship at the University of Berlin in April 2010.

  • Alexander Karschnia

    Theatre-maker and author, curator and occasional dramaturge. Co-founder of andcompany&Co., where he works as a co-director and performer. He writes about and for theatre, including Brecht, Müller, Schlingensief, Pollesch and others. Among the sins of his youth are the invention of the Frankfurt NightDanceDemos and the take over of Schlingensief’s political party CHANCE 2000. His work between science, art and activism includes lecture performances and the organisation of conferences such as EUROPE TO THE COUNCILS! at the Berlin Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, where he worked as dramaturge in the first season of René Pollesch’s directorship and curated a discourse series in the Roter Salon. He is also on the board of trustees of the KOMMUNIKATIONSAUFBAU Foundation and co-founded the “Albert O. Hirschman Prize for Interference, Contradiction and Renewal of Democratic Culture”. Karschnia is the editor of the new edition of his key work “Exit, Voice, & Loyalty”. He is currently organising the series “Thinking for the Future: The Albert O. Hirschman Effect” at the Theater im Aufbau Haus.

     

  • Gregor Knüppel

    Gregor was born in Frankfurt in 1972. He studied visual communication at the Academy of Art and Design in Offenbach before graduating from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London in 2005. He now focuses on light installations (i.e. Luminale Frankfut) and light design for theatre and dance productions (since 2008 with andcompany&Co. amomg others). Gregor is also a musician and composer and has released several albums as well as presented many sound installations and live concerts (among others together with Jan Brokof as ‘Das K’).

  • Simon Lenski

    The cellist Simon Lenski (born near Antwerp in 1977) founded the music group DAU (Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung) in 1992 and has produced seven albums with them as well as touring internationally. Simon also composes music for film and writes theatre scores for performances by  Eisbär / Collateral Damage and Wunderbaum  (Venlo). On stage he last worked together with Beide Messies and andcompany&Co. (“Der (kommende) Aufstand”). Simon lives in Antwerp and Berlin.

  • João Loureiro

    João Eduardo Loureiro studied Visual Poetics at the School of Communications and Arts of University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) and Visual Arts at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP). He had numerous solo shows,i.a.  „Fim da Primeira Parte“ (Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo 2011) and „Blue Jeans“ (Projeto Octógono de Arte, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo 2009) as well as group exhibitions, such as  „In Situ – Arte en el Espacio Publico“ (Bariloche 2012) and „MAM na OCA: Arte Brasileira no Acervo“ do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (2006). João has been awarded a number of grants and prizes over the last years. In 2010 he was winner of the Cultura Inglesa Festival with his iInstallation „Tim Scott, William Tucker e Phillip King“, which was presented at Centro Britânico Brasileiro in São Paul.

  • Iris Mpaglanea

    Iris grew up on Corfu. She studied acting in Athens (at Theatro Technis Karolos Koun and Elliniko Theatro) and also trained as dancer and singer. She appeared in several theatre productions at Theater Embros (i.e. by Angelos Frantzis  in 2013 and Olympia Mitilinaios in 2014) as well as on the screen. Since 2011 she has been living in Berlin, where she worked at Ballhaus Ost (‘Im Herz der Arbeit’ directed by Sebastian Bauksch) and studies theatre therapy.

  • Nicola Nord

    theatre-maker, performer and singer. After she studied theatre-, film- and media-science at the University in Frankfurt/Main, she received an artists’ grant for DasArts (The Amsterdam School for Performing Arts). little red (play): ‘herstory’ was her final project there. She is co-founder of andcompany&Co. and contributes to the collective’s work mainly as director, co-writer and performer. Lives in Berlin.

  • Claudia Splitt

    Claudia is an actress and singer. She studied Applied Theatre Science in Gießen and in 1994 founded her own band MadonnaHipHopMassaker. Apart from being a singer she has been part of many theatre projects with Jörg Laue/Lose Combo, Tim Staffel ("Hausarrest“), René Pollesch ("Heidi Hoh", "Insourcing des Zuhause – Menschen in Scheisshotels", „Telefavela“) and John Jesurun („Red House“). In 2006 she realized a solo-performance (Feedback’) at Volksbühne Berlin. 2013 she played Portia in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ directed by Claudia Meyer at Deutsches Natinaltheater Weimar, in 2014 she participated in the performance-project ‘Dissolved’ by Florian Feigl & Christopher Hewitt with Station House Opera London at Sophiensäle Berlin. Futher infos at www.loopmoss.de)

  • Sascha Sulimma

    theatre-maker, music-producer, performer and and DJ from Frankfurt am Main, now living in Berlin, develops acoustic landscapes and music for theater and performance. He is co-founder of andcompany&Co. where he works as a co-director, musician and performer.

  • Komi Mizrajim Togbonou

    The Berlin based artist Komi Mizrajim Togbonou was born in Remscheid in 1971 and works as an actor for theatre, TV and cinema. He appeared in several popular German detective series as well as short films (directed by Fred R. Willitzkat and Herbert Fritsch). In 2008 he played in Christoph Schlingensiefs „Eine Kirche der Angst vor dem Fremden in mir“. Komi was head of the intercultural TheaterSpielWerkstatt at theatre Oberhausen and is member of the artists network Marsnetz. As musician he played with Nina Hagen, Die Fantastischen Vier and Thomas D. He is singer of the Soul Boogaloo Band “El Cartel” and the rock band “Silberrücken”. As an actor for theatre he worked at several German state theatres such as Theater Bremen, Theater Oberhausen,  Hans-Otto-Theater Potsdam and currently Theater Heidelberg.

  • Reinier van Houdt

    Reinier van Houdt studied piano in Budapest and The Hague. He worked with numerous composers such as  John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Luc Ferrari and David Tibet as well as dance companies (Leine & Roebaba, Scapino) and theatre companies (Hotel Modern, Cryptic, Veenfabriek, Reisopera and since 2010 andcompany&Co.). Reinier is one of the moving forces behind  the music ensemble MAE, plays in Current 93 and founded his own music company ZOOGDIER. He lives and works in Rotterdam and tours internationally.