April 29th 2015
WORLD PREMIERE OF LIOR NAVOK'S AN UNSEREM FLUSS (BY OUR RIVER)
IN THE BOCKENHEIMER DEPOT - COMMISSIONED BY OPER FRANKFURT
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to invite you to the opening night (or a later performance) of the eleventh new
production in Oper Frankfurt's 2014/15 season:
Sunday May 31st 2015, at 19.30hrs in the Bockenheimer Depot
Premiere / World Premiere
AN UNSEREM FLUSS (BY OUR RIVER)
by Lior Navok (*1971)
Libretto by Lior Navok
German translation by Kristian Lutze
Commissioned by Oper Frankfurt
Sung in German with German surtitles
Conductor: Sebastian Zierer
Director: Corinna Tetzel
Stage Designer: Stephanie Rauch
Costume Designer: Judith Adam
Lighting Designer: Jan Hartmann
Video: Mario Spiegel
Dramaturge: Deborah Einspieler
With generous support from the Speyer’sche Hochschulstiftung
I do hope you might be able to cover this event.
For further information, ordering photographs and reserving your press tickets please
contact me on +49 (0)69 - 212 46 727. My fax number is +49 (0)69 - 212 37 164, or you
can reach me by email: [email protected].
With many thanks in advance for your cooperation and
best wishes
Holger Engelhardt
Pressereferent
Premiere / World Premiere
AN UNSEREM FLUSS (BY OUR RIVER)
by Lior Navok (*1971)
Libretto by Lior Navok
German translation by Kristian Lutze
Commissioned by Oper Frankfurt
Sung in German with German surtitles
Conductor: Sebastian Zierer
Director: Corinna Tetzel
Stage Designer: Stephanie Rauch
Costume Designer: Judith Adam
Lighting Designer: Jan Hartmann
Video: Mario Spiegel
Dramaturge: Deborah Einspieler
Lucia: Kateryna Kasper
Allendorf: Daniel Schmutzhard
Fred Bucksmann: Davide Damiani
Klara Bucksmann: Elizabeth Reiter
Sinya: Stine Marie Fischer
Chicken-Heart: Alexander Mayr
Sipho: Michael Porter
Zachary-Rutget: Alfred Reiter
Right-Hand: Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin
Herr Kavi: Carlos Krause
Farmer / Big Uncle 1: Gurgen Baveyan
Schatz / Big Uncle 2: Yves Saelens
Oper Frankfurt's Extras; Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
With generous support from the Speyer’sche Hochschulstiftung
Lior Navok (*1971) comes from Tel Aviv and writes music for the stage and concert hall that is played all over
the world. In recent years his passion for the written word and theatre led him to compose operas, including the
2012 chamber opera Die Wette (The bet) based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, and staged performances
of his oratorio And the Trains Kept Coming… at the Staatsoper Nürnberg in February 2014.
One country, two nations, Israel and Palestine, a story about homeland and uprooting, persecution and
return, freedom and boundaries – and about the longing for peace: 15 year old Lucia, who has been sent to
find water, meets Sipho, who is also 15. She likes him immediately. When they meet again she realises that
he in one of the „enemies“, her parents presumed murderers. The two young people's uncertainty is great,
but their wish to spend the future together is greater. The boundaries between reality and unreality blur.
Lucia and Sipho search for a way out of a vicious circle, which extends far beyond the borders between
countries and national interests.
This world premiere in the Bockenheimer Depot is conducted by Sebastian Zierer, a soloists' coach at Oper
Frankfurt, and one of its Kapellmeister since 2013/14. This season he conducts performances of revivals of
Puccini's La Bohème and Humperdinck's Königskinder (Royal Children) for the company, where he has also
conducted Mozart's Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni in recent seasons. Corinna Tetzel has
worked in Frankfurt as a director's assistant since 2011. She has also directed productions in the Opera for
Children series in the Holzfoyer. With this world premiere – which follows on from her stagings of Bartók's
Bluebeard's Castle and Donizetti's Don Pasquale at Theater Ulm – she directs at Oper Frankfurt for the first
time. The cast, including Kateryna Kasper (Lucia), Daniel Schmutzhard (Allendorf), Elizabeth Reiter (Klara
Bucksmann), Michael Porter (Sipho), Alfred Reiter (Zachary Rutget) and Gurgen Baveyan (Farmer / Big
Uncle 1), is made up largely of Members of Oper Frankfurt's Ensemble and Opera Studio. Guests include the
Italian baritone Davide Damiani (Fred Bucksmann), who sang Michonnet in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur here in
2011/12. He recently performed the role of Guy de Montfort in Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes at the Opéra de
Nice. Stine Marie Fischer (Sinya), Alexander Mayr (Chicken-Heart) and Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin (RightHand) appear regularly at Oper Frankfurt. During the 2013/14 season Stine Marie Fischer sang Dryade in
Strauss‘ Ariadne auf Naxos in the opera house and Alexander Mayr performed the very high tenor role of
Student Arkenholz in Reimann's Die Gespenstersonate (Ghost Sonata) in the Bockenheimer Depot, in which
Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin, whose roles for the company have included Edmund in Aribert Reimann's Lear
(2011/12) as well as Quint and General Wingrave in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw (2010/11) and
Owen Wingrave (2009/10), sang Johansson. Kammersänger Carlos Krause (Herr Kavi) has sung more than
100 roles at Oper Frankfurt since 1975. Yves Saelens (Schatz / Big Uncle 2) is also a regular guest in
Frankfurt, where he recently performed Ferdinand in Thomas Adès The Tempest, 2013/14, and one of the four
kings in Strauss‘ Die Liebe der Danae (The Love of Danae; in concert).
Premiere / World Premiere: Sunday May 31st 2015, at 19.30hrs in the Bockenheimer Depot
Further performances: June 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 13th 2015
Unless otherwise stated, all performances begin at 19.30hrs
Tickets cost: € 20 to € 70 (with a 12.5% pre-booking fee when not purchased direct from the theatre)
Tickets can be obtained from the usual outlets, by telephone +49 (0)69 – 212 49 49 4 or online
www.oper-frankfurt.de.