February 3rd 2015
FIRST EVER PERFORMANCE IN FRANKFURT OF
MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG'S DIE PASSAGIERIN / THE PASSENGER
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to invite you to the opening night (or a later performance) of the seventh new
production in Oper Frankfurt's 2014/15 season:
Sunday March 1st 2015, at 18.00hrs in the Opera House
Premiere / First ever performance in Frankfurt
DIE PASSAGIERIN / THE PASSENGER
Opera in two acts, eight scenes and an epilogue by Mieczysław Weinberg
Libretto by Alexander Medwedew after the novel by the same name by Zofia Posmysz
Performed in various languages with German surtitles
Conductor: Leo Hussain
Director: Anselm Weber
Stage Designer: Katja Hass
Costume Designer: Bettina Walter
Lighting Designer: Olaf Winter
Video: Bibi Abel
Dramaturge: Norbert Abels
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
With generous support from the Frankfurt Patronatsverein – Sektion Oper
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 / First ever performance in Frankfurt
DIE PASSAGIERIN / THE PASSENGER
Opera in two acts, eight senes and an epilogue by Mieczysław Weinberg
Libretto by Alexander Medwedew after the novel by the same name by Zofia Posmysz
Performed in various languages with German surtitles
Conductor: Leo Hussain
Director: Anselm Weber
Stage Designer: Katja Hass
Costume Designer: Bettina Walter
Lighting Designer: Olaf Winter
Video: Bibi Abel
Dramaturge: Norbert Abels
Chorus Master: Tilman Michael
Lisa: Tanja Ariane Baumgartner
Walter: Peter Marsh
Marta: Sara Jakubiak
Tadeusz: Brian Mulligan
Katja: Anna Ryberg
Krystina: Maria Pantiukhova
Vlasta: Jenny Carlstedt
Hannah: Judita Nagyová
Yvette: Nora Friedrichs
Bronka: Joanna Krasuska-Motulewicz
Old Woman: Barbara Zechmeister
1st SS Man: Dietrich Volle
2nd SS Man: Magnús Baldvinsson
3rd SS Man: Hans-Jürgen Lazar
Older Passenger: Thomas Faulkner
Chief Warder: Margit Neubauer
Kapo: Friederike Schreiber
Steward: Michael McCown
Oper Frankfurt's Chorus
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
With generous support from the Frankfurt Patronatsverein – Sektion Oper
Die Passagierin, by Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996), was completed in 1968 but not performed until
2006, in concert in Moscow. The first staged performances took place at the 2010 Bregenz Festival. The
libretto, based on Zofiy Posmysz's (*1923) autobiographical novel by the same name, was written by the
Russian musicologist Alexander Medwedew. Weinberg, who was friends with Schostakovitch for many
years, and of Jewish origin, drew on his own traumatic experiences of war in this, his first opera.
A ship sailing to Brasil in the late 1950s: Lisa and her husband Walter are on their way to start a new life
when an encounter reminds Lisa of the time she spent as a prison warder in Auschwitz. She thinks one of
the other passengers is Marta, a former inmate who she was sure was dead, but who now seems to be
standing before her. Walter, who knows nothing of his wife's past, is horrified and fears his reputation as an
ambassador might be jeopardised. The past overwhelms Lisa, forcing her, in flashbacks, to remember and
face reality.
The first ever performance of this work in Frankfurt is led by the British conductor Leo Hussain, General
Music Director of the Landestheater in Salzburg since 2009, back in Frankfurt where he conducted revivals
of a de Falla L’heure espagnole and Ravel La vida breve double bill (2010/11) and Puccini's Tosca
(2013/14). Anselm Weber became Intendant of the Schauspielhaus in Bochum in 2010. His previous
productions at Oper Frankfurt were Janáček's Katja Kabanová (2003/04), d’Albert's Tiefland (2006/07) and
Korngold's Die tote Stadt (2009/10). Most of the roles are sung by Members of Oper Frankfurt's Ensemble
and Opera Studio, led by Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Lisa), Peter Marsh (Walter) and Sara Jakubiak
(Marta). They are joined by three guest artists: the Polish mezzo-soprano Joanna Krasuska-Motulewicz,
making her house debut as Bronka, the American, Julliard School trained, baritone Brian Mulligan
(Tadeusz), who sang Prospero in the first revival of our production of Adès’ The Tempest in 2013/14, and the
actress Friederike Schreiber (Kapo), also appearing at Oper Frankfurt for the first time.
Chief dramaturg Norbert Abels will introduce and talk to Zofia Posmysz, upon whose book the opera is
based, on the opening night, at 17.00hrs in the Holzfoyer. Intendant Bernd Loebe can also be heard in
conversation with her in an event titled The Woman Who Was The Passenger on Saturday February 28th,
at 15.00hrs.
Premiere / First ever performance in Frankfurt: Sunday March 1st 2015, at 18.00hrs in the Opera House
Further performances: March 6th, 8th, 14th, 20th, 22nd, 28th 2015
Unless otherwise stated, all performances begin at 19.00hrs
Tickets cost: € 15 to € 165 (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