Staatstheater

Pierre Boulez memorably declared in 1971 that the future of opera lay in the destruction of all opera houses, but in the very same year, Mauricio Kagel presented a revolutionary vision of the clean-up operation that could follow. The première of Staatstheater at the Hamburg State Opera disassembled the traditional operatic institution and indeed the whole genre into its constituent parts, creating a much sought-after path for new music theatre which is as relevant today as it was almost half a century ago. In creating the score, Kagel gathered hundreds of theatrical, instrumental, vocal and physical miniatures; certain rules govern their usage, but they are fundamentally intended to be combined freely into a unique production. A new interpretation of the work therefore presents a compositional jigsaw whose pieces have neither clear edges nor, when combined, can present an overall picture. Kagel's music theatre however operates beyond simple representation; one finds no acts and figures or beautiful songs about emotions or feelings. It rather creates a kaleidoscope of distorted quotations rotating lewdly around themselves, presenting a grotesque representation of a damaged world. If Opera Lab Berlin is to devote itself to recreating Kagel’s classic yet rarely performed magnum opus, then it must also design a kaleidoscope-like musical theater world which interested in more than itself. In Opera Lab's version, the elderly Staatstheater will become a Theatre of the Elderly State...