PANDORA
Matthias Kranebitter (AT) / Christopher Sturmer (AT) / Michael Höppner (DE) / Patrik Lechner (AT) / BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA (AT)
PANDORA
A Cyber-Reanimation of the Baroque Opera Torso by Royer and Voltaire
Premiere
The new opera by Matthias Kranebitter is a cross-genre revival attempt of the baroque opera torso "Pandora" based on lost music by Joseph-Niclas-Pancrace Royer and a libretto by Voltaire. A multifaceted, unbridled fantasy about enlightenment, revolution, harpsichords and guillotines. Following the music-theatrical algorithm of the underlying myth of creation and progress, the result is an opera for the posthuman age that gradually comes apart at the seams and develops an exciting life of its own. What does Pandora's Box release or preserve?
In 1748, the libretto "Pandora" by the French star enlightener and optimist of progress Voltaire was published. In it, the Titan and human creator Prometheus steals fire from the Olympian gods and awakens the creature he loves, Pandora, to life. As a result, the separation of heaven and earth and the end of the Golden Age are accomplished and human history is set in motion. The setting by the Baroque composer Pancrace Royer is a failure; after a mere fragmentary performance, all the musical material has disappeared.
Just as the artificial woman Pandora is brought to life by her creator, Matthias Kranebitter's music now breathes new life into the opera torso. The algorithms of a musical decomposition process of Royer's insane harpsichord works let baroque debris and broken harmonies merge with noisy avalanches of sound, the composer Royer himself becomes Prometheus, the history of the opera its material. This gives rise to a cross-genre live happening that mutates into a circling chaos of colour, form and sound. The music-theatrical algorithm of this creation and progress myth brings forth humanity in the same way that humanity is transcended: The opera becomes a work of art of the posthuman age.
A co-production of BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA, Passion :SPIEL at the Nationaltheater Weimar and MUSIKTHEATERTAGE WIEN.
Commissioned by MUSIKTHEATERTAGE WIEN, financed by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
Language: German, French. With German surtitles.
Composition, Concept: Matthias Kranebitter | Staging: Michael Höppner | Conductor, Musical Director of Studies: Vinicius Katta | Scenography, artistic direction: Christopher Sturmer | 3D animations, visualisations: Patrik Lechner | Sound direction: Christina Bauer | Assistant Director: Ruben Michael | WithGeorg Bochow (countertenor), Heike Porstein (soprano), Andreas Jankowitsch (baritone), Astrid Schwarz (narrator); BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA: Iva Kovač (flutes), Magdalena Lucia Puschnig (oboe), Florian Fennes (clarinets), Spiros Laskaridis (trumpet), Juan Pablo Marin Reyes (trombone), Samuel Toro Perez (electric guitar), Alfredo Ovalles (keyboard), Igor Gross (percussion), Fani Vovoni (violin), Eirini Krikoni (viola), Irene Frank (cello), Juan Pablo Trad Hasbun (double bass), Matthias Kranebitter (electronics) | Production: BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA, Passion :SPIEL at the Nationaltheater Weimar, MUSIKTHEATERTAGE WIEN | Funded bySKE austromechana, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
MATTHIAS KRANEBITTER
Composer Matthias Kranebitter works increasingly with electronics and new media. His music addresses aspects of our media society with its flood of information. Winner of many international awards, he has already worked with the Belgian Nadar Ensemble, Decoder Ensemble Hamburg, Ensemble Mosaik Berlin, Talea Ensemble New York, Ensemble Phace, Klangforum Wien and the RSO Vienna. He is co-founder of the Unsafe+Sounds Festival and artistic director of BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRAS. matthiaskranebitter.com
CHRISTOPHER STURMER
Christopher Sturmer is an artist and director living and working in Austria. He developed a particular pleasure in exploring painting as a basis for abstract black and white multimedia sculptures that create immersive experiences in an innovative fusion of visual elements that challenge individual perception or arouse emotions. His works are in exhibitions, performances and film festivals in Austria, Germany, England and the USA. christophersturmer.com
MICHAEL HÖPPNER
Michael Höppner has been working as a freelance director for contemporary music theatre, opera and drama as well as a dramaturge since 2006. He was chief director of the Opera Lab Berlin ensemble and worked as a lecturer, staged at the Volksbühne Berlin, Burgtheater Vienna, Theater Trier, Schauspiel Leipzig, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper Berlin as well as at numerous festivals. In 2021, he founded "Passion :SPIEL - the Weimar Weekends for Contemporary Music Theatre" at the German National Theatre in Weimar, which he has directed ever since.
PATRIK LECHNER
Austrian-based artist Patrik Lechner has been creating experimental audio and video content since the mid-2000s. Developing custom software for his experimental music and exploring technologies with a focus on artistic expression, he has created original abstract sound works and real-time 3D visualisations. In addition to audio/video performances in Europe and beyond, Lechner regularly performed in the Austrian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.
soundcloud.com/titled & vimeo.com/titled
Prices
€ 25 full price / € 15 reduced / € 10 CARE
Available in the ODEON Combiticket and in the "Black Page Orchestra" cycle of the Musikverein Vienna.
Performances
Odeon Theater
Taborstraße 10, 1020 Vienna
