Wallenberg Opera
„Raoul“
Composition: Gershon Kingsley
Libretto: Michael Kunze
Events:
World Premiere on 21 February 2008, 8 pm
Other performances:
February 23rd, 8pm
February 28, 8pm
12 March, 8 pm
March 16, 6 pm
April 24, 8pm
9 May, 8 pm
May 16, 8pm
31 May, 8 pm
Place:
Theater Bremen, Neues Schauspielhaus
Raoul – One can make the difference
„Raoul“ is an opera about Sweden Raoul Wallenberg, who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish citizens of Budapest by issuing „protection passports“ to the war-neutral Swedish government at the end of the Second World War.
Numerous episodes from the biography of Raoul Wallenberg are included in the plot: Wallenberg’s decision to go to Budapest, his struggle on the smooth floor of diplomacy around every Jewish fellow citizen he could reach, his voiced conversation with the administrator of death Adolf Eichmann, his disappearance after the fulfillment of the mission in the Soviet Union – Michael Kunze and Gershon Kingsley have given this opera its own form, in order to bring a young audience close to the personality of Raoul Wallenberg. Facts mix with great emotionality in order to bring out the message of the life of Raoul Wallenberg: „One can make a difference“.
This work is an appeal to all to take an example of the courage and imagination of the hero. A person who has not only looked away when others are inflicted suffering and death, but who drew consequences from what he saw, and directed his life to do what has to be done at this moment. This encouragement for civil courage, for unconditional commitment to others, is as urgently needed today as it was then.
One of the most successful librettists of the present, Michael Kunze, is the author and initiator of the work. Michael Kunze wrote the texts for musicals such as „Elisabeth“, „Rebecca“ or „Mozart!“, Which reached a millionpublish. He has linked the best traditions of the drama with the directness, freshness and emotional depth of the musical and created something new, the DramaMusical. „If the audience is bored, I have failed. I do not deny that I want to give the people who see me a piece of me that they can take home with them, „explains Michael Kunze the claim of his dramaturgy. With „Raoul“ Michael Kunze created his first opernlibretto.
The composer’s composer Gershon Kingsley is linked to the history of the Jewish citizens of Europe. His parents fled Vienna to escape the persecution of the National Socialists when Gershon Kingsley was 9 years old. In New York, Kingsley made a name for himself as a composer, mainly dealing with electronic music and the artistic possibilities of the legendary Moog synthesizer. His best-known, if not necessarily typical, work is the melody „pop-corn“, which everyone has already heard (at least) once. Kingsley has written numerous film music, composed for television films and commercials, created song cycles and compositions for large orchestras – and is still considered one of the most innovative musicians of our time.