News

17.10.2018

Lanzelot im Visier

In the studio of the Theater Erfurt we will present our co-production of Paul Dessaus and Heiner Müller's opera "Lanzelot" on 26 November at 7 pm. The general directors Guy Montavon and Hasko Weber welcome the son of the composer, Maxim Dessau, and the musicologist Professor Dr. Albrecht von Massow. Supplemented by film excerpts, the discussion will shed light on Paul Dessau's life and work as well as on post-war opera and art in the GDR. The moderator will be Dr. Arne Langer, chief dramaturge of the Theater Erfurt, and our opera director Hans-Georg Wegner. Background: Together with Theater Erfurt, we will be bringing the opera "Lanzelot" by Paul Dessau (composition) and Heiner Müller (libretto) to the stage in the 2019/20 season. Based on the well-known fairy-tale comedy "Der Drache" by Jewgeni Schwarz and premiered in Berlin in 1969, the work can be regarded as one of the most exciting rediscoveries of contemporary music theatre. With 34 solo and extensive choir parts, as well as a complex instrumentation, this opera brings together the soloists* of the DNT Weimar and the Theater Erfurt as well as guests, the opera choirs of both houses and the children's choirs of the schola cantorum weimar and the Choir Academy Erfurt. The production was directed by former master director Peter Konwitschny, who has been setting international standards with his work for decades. His staging of the opera is the result of a close exchange with the musical director of the production, Dominik Beykirch, our 1st Coordinated Kapellmeister, who will conduct the performances at both theatres. The premiere at our house with the Staatskapelle Weimar is scheduled for 23 November 2019. The Erfurt premiere with the Erfurt Philharmonic Orchestra will follow on 16 May 2020.

Further information is available here.