Interdisciplinary opera project by the HfK Bremen School of Music and Art

An evening of opera that bridges two worlds, yet poses a common question: what really matters in life? The University of the Arts Bremen invites you to an extraordinary double bill in which the splendour of Baroque music and Surrealist modernism mirror and enhance one another. In the first part, the Early Music Department, under the direction of Detlef Bratschke, presents an opera pastiche based on works by Henry Purcell, developed from an idea by Kobie van Rensburg. The focus is on a young woman who is preparing for her milestone birthday and eagerly awaiting her friends and family. But just before the guests arrive, she receives a diagnosis from her doctor that turns her life upside down. The ensuing musical-theatrical unfolding shows, with subtle humour and poignant tragedy, how fragile supposedly stable friendships can become when comfort and help come to nothing. How does one approach a person whose world is falling apart? What does one say when every word sounds wrong? And how does one find one’s own footing when one wants to help yet is merely helpless? The Pasticcio becomes a quiet yet powerful exploration of the question of what endures in life when certainties vanish.

In the second part, the evening takes a radical leap into the modern era: the Classical Department of the HfK, together with the university orchestra conducted by An-Hoon Song, brings Francis Poulenc’s opera *Les mamelles de Tirésias* to the stage. In grotesque exaggeration, the work tells the story of Thérèse, who has had enough of constantly seeing the world through the lens of male expectations. She breaks down the boundaries of her gender, refuses the role of childbearer and leaves this task to her husband – who then, in a sort of surreal laboratory, produces 40,050 children a day, thereby plunging the state into economic chaos. Guillaume Apollinaire, who wrote the libretto upon his return from the First World War, crafted a surrealist hymn to life, to change and to the freedom to swap social roles. The opera shows how societies have always oscillated between conservative and liberal poles, often triggered by crises or wars. It celebrates an era that is astonishingly close to our own, whilst at the same time criticising a world increasingly shaped by economics, selfishness and dwindling empathy. Precisely because history repeats itself and new conflicts loom on the horizon, this work remains alarmingly relevant.

The result is an evening that oscillates between light-heartedness and existential depth, between baroque intimacy and surrealist exuberance. An evening that makes us laugh but also gives us food for thought. And one that reminds us that musical theatre does not merely tell stories, but constantly challenges us to ask ourselves anew how we want to live – and how we treat one another.

• Musical Director: Prof. Detlef Bratschke
• Director: Prof. Ansgar Weigner 
• Assistant Director: Nae Kohatsu Matakas 
• Video: Erik Wälz (Digital Media, class of Prof. Ralf Baecker)
• Costumes/Set Design: Students from Prof. Heike Kati Barath’s class (Figurative Painting)

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Seven – Opera pastiche with music by H. Purcell based on a libretto by Kobie van Rensburg

Baroque Ensemble for Early Music, Conductor: Prof. Detlef Bratschke

Lara: Rebecca Bottari 
Nunu: Francisco Valente Goncalves Henriques 
Samuel: Aaron Paul Schmitt 
Rocco: Luca David Segger 
Chelsea: Seran Oh 
Jennifer: Cora Theobald 
Mohab: Gerrit Arne Schneider 
Harald: Leonard Johannes Kiefer 
Tim: Christopher Charles Joseph Neale 
Dick: Jakob Jänig 
Romely: Isabel Chrostek

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“Les mamelles de Tirésias” by Francis Poulenc

Project Choir and University Orchestra, Conductor: An-Hoon Song

Soloists: 
Thérèse/La cartomancienne: Madoka Sakai, Shiyi Huang, Tianyi Xiong
La marchande de journaux: Xinnan Huang 
La dame elegante: Tianyi Xiong, Zhangtianyi Li 
La dame grosse: Annelie Franke, Bella Gutay | Le mari: Fabian Geier, Francisco Henriques 
Le Gendarme: Runyu Jiang
Le directeur: Hwanyeong Jeong 
Presto/Le monsieur barbu: Sangwoo Choi, Wenzhuo Jiang
Lacouf=Lacouffe: Yein Kim, Yujia Ding 
Le Journaliste: Chaoyan Yang 
Le fils=La fille: Ida Grotke, Lotta Wolter

Chorus: Tianyi Xiong, Zhangtianyi Li, Ida Grotke, Lotta Wolter, Lioba Brändle (soprano) | Seungmin Baek, Annelie Franke, Bella Gutay (alto) | Alexander Schmidt, Yein Kim, Yujia Ding, Chaoyan Yang (tenor) | Shirui Liang, Jakob Jänig, Christopher Neale, Sangwoo Choi, Wenzhuo Jiang, Hwanyeong Jeong (bass)

University Orchestra:
Flute: Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya, Jinyi Wang, Elise Godin, Huixin Chen | Oboe: Kaipeng Wang, Yingchen Chen, Yuzhe Jiang, Leiye Qiu | Clarinet, Bass Clarinet: t.b.a. | Bassoon: Ting-Chih Liang, You-Rong Chen, Hyunshin Kim | Horn: Maki Fujimoto, Gonçalo Ferreira, Estrella Prada Ramírez, Maximilian Faust | Trumpet: Biel Pelfort Bartoló, Yi-Hsin Chuang, José María García Heras, Patrick Rohloff | Trombone: Roman Lokhmachev, Alexander Lehmbecker | Tuba: Sota Yamamoto | Timpani/Percussion: Sebastián Cartes Chaparro, Hyeonyu Goh, Xueou Chen | Harp: Jara Egen | Piano: Jintao Zhu, Weier Zeng | Violin I: Johanna Baron (KM), Hirona Ise, Xingfeng Luo, Miao Liu, Chih-Ning Yang, Yu-Ci Yang, Pia Constanza Barrios Gomez, David Rosenberg (KM), Seewoo Park, Lina Zakharava, Miao Liu, Hirona Ise, Yun-Chen Wu, Till Funk | Violin II: Alvaro Cordova Luna (KM), Sinhá Winkler, Shuyu Wang, Claudia Jung, Shuran Yang, Yung-Hsi, Amèlia Fellows Morey (SF), Chiara Stanese, Mariami Zdragat, Sinhá Winkler, Yung-Hsi Ko, Claudia Jung | Viola: Elias Falk (SF), Facundo Ortega, Siyu Xiang, Audrey Monfils, Joaquin Leon Fernandez (SF), Tunya Sahin, Liam Marong, Polet Silva Lorca | Cello: Michael Schorr (SF), Zoya Chumachenco, Clemens Parketny, Yijia Liu, Vaughan Kennedy Mc Lea (SF), Zofia Momot, Yuhe Yang, Luca Miedek | Double bass: Hanbit Lee, Mingnan Guan, Dong-Seong Min, Ke-Ching Chen, Fridtjof Springer, Xiangji Hu

Subject to change.