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© Volksoper Wien
KaiserRequiem (Ballet)
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January 2025  | ||||||
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Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann / Requiem d-Moll KV 626 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
In German and Latin language with German and English surtitles
Emperor Overall is the tyrannical ruler of Atlantis. When he finally declares a war between everyone and everyone else, Death decides to go on strike. In an act of populist demagogy, the Emperor claims the credit for delivering immortality. But with no one dying, the country descends into chaos. The Emperor is forced to accept that his power has been broken.
Confronted directly with persecution and extermination by the Nazis, Viktor Ullmann composed Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis) in Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1943/44: a harrowing allegory critiquing inhuman warmongering and totalitarian power structures. In October 1944 – along with his co-librettist Peter Kien – he was deported on the so-called “Künstlertransport” to Auschwitz, where Ullmann was gassed to death and Kien died of an infection. Shifting between a contemporary opera, a mystery play and a dance of death, Der Kaiser von Atlantis presents a unique theatrical sound world.
For the premiere KaiserRequiem, the conductor Omer Meir Wellber has defied convention to interweave Ullmann’s sixty-minute chamber opera with possibly the most famous torso in the history of music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s musical legacy, his Requiem in D minor KV 626 – composed in the face of death in 1791 and interrupted by death. KaiserRequiem is a dialogue between these two works about the great questions of human existence. However, KaiserRequiem is also a collaborative work by all sections of the theatre: the dancers of the Vienna State Ballet as well as the soloists and the chorus and orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper, directed and choreographed by Andreas Heise.
Program and cast
Music: Viktor Ullmann
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Direction and choreography: Andreas Heise
Poetry: Viktor Ullmann
Poetry: Peter Kien
Set design and costumes: Sascha Thomsen
Light: Johannes Schadl
Choir rehearsal: Roger Díaz-Cajamarca
Sound design and scenic assistance: Kian Jazdi
Dramaturgy: Anne do Paço
Musical direction: Omer Meir Wellber
Requiem soprano: Rebecca Nelsen
Requiem alto: Wallis Giunta
Requiem tenor: JunHo You
Requiem bass: Josef Wagner
Kaiser overall: Daniel Schmutzhard
Death: Josef Wagner
Harlequin, Pierrot: Seiyoung Kim
A soldier: JunHo You
Bobbed hair, a girl, Female soldier: Rebecca Nelsen
The drummer: Wallis Giunta
Volksoper Vienna
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Stop "Währinger Straße / Volksoper"
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The Volksoper is Vienna’s main stage for operetta, opera, musicals and ballet, offering sophisticated musical entertainment. Colourful, eclectic and full of vitality, it is the only theatre dedicated to the genre of operetta.
Operetta belongs to Vienna and Vienna installed it at the home of operetta, Volksopera Vienna, which thereupon became the leading operetta house in the world. First class singers, actors and dancers together with a versatile orchestra cunjure up a musical firework display every evening.
Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán wrote their world famous beloved melodies for operettas such as “The Fledermaus”, “The Merry Widow” and “The Csárdás Princess”. A visit to at least one of these operettas at the Volksopera Vienna is a must for every visitor to Vienna!
Also performed are operas from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as well as classic musicals and ballet. In addition, the Volksoper has a fifth longstanding and proven speciality: it stages soirées, cabaret and burlesque performances under the name of “Volksoper Spezial”.
In the repertory theatre, which seats 1,337 persons, some 300 performances of around 35 different productions are staged every year between September and June.
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