Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland (world premiere)
Achim Freyer (stage director), Kent Nagano (conductor) — With Sally Matthews, Dietrich Henschel...
Thank you for your understanding.
Cast
Achim Freyer — Stage director
Nina Weitzner — Costume designer, masks, puppets
Sally Matthews — Soprano (Alice)
Piia Komsi — Soprano (Cat)
Julia Rempe — Soprano (Cat)
Dietrich Henschel — Bass-baritone (Duck / Mad Hatter)
Andrew Watts — Countertenor (White Rabbit / Badger)
Gwyneth Jones — Soprano (Queen of hearts)
Cynthia Jansen — Mezzo-soprano (Owl / Duchess / Two)
Guy de Mey — Tenor (Mouse / Pat / Cook / Dormouse / Invisible Man)
Christian Rieger — Tenor (Old man / Eaglet / Fish-Footman / Five / Executioner)
Steven Humes — Bass (Old man / Crab / King of hearts)
Rüdiger Trebes — Bass (Dodo / Frog-footman / Seven)
Stefan Schneider — Bass-clarinet (Caterpillar)
Andrés Máspero — Chorus master
Bayerisches Staatsorchester — Orchestra
Program notes
In the last years of his life, Ligeti dreamed of setting Lewis Caroll's famous fairy tale to music. He didn't have the time, but one of his students took up the challenge a few years later. In 2002, Korean composer Unsuk Chin received a commission from the Bavarian State Opera. For her first opera, she offered her interpretation of Alice in Wonderland, adding two of her own dreams to the libretto: “I wanted the world of dreams to be reality in my opera." The score includes many nods to composers such as Ravel, Handel, Elgar, Stravinsky and Puccini, as well as unusual percussion and sounds made by bottles, alarm clocks, kettles, knives and forks. Alice in Wonderland premiered in Munich in June 2007 under the baton of Kent Nagano, with Sally Matthews in the title role and Gwyneth Jones as Queen of Hearts. A resounding success, Achim Freyer's staging plunges us between dream and reality, as the acrobats and puppets move...
© Picture: Wilfried Hösl
