With a spectacular production of “The Raft of the Medusa”, by Hans Werner Henze, the Komische Oper Berlin began the period without its main building, which needed renovations. Tobias Scratch, artistic director-designate of the Hamburg State Opera, performed the approximately 90-minute oratorio in a huge hangar at the abandoned Tempelhof airport.
The elaborate work with an artistic ensemble of around 200 people made up of soloists, choir and orchestra under the direction of Titus Engel, as well as numerous extras, was celebrated by the public at the premiere last night.
Shipwreck during colonial mission
Like the famous Louvre work “The Raft of the Medusa”, by the French painter Theodore Gericault (1791-1824), which became the setting, Henze refers to a shipwreck during a colonial mission. Many of the survivors are left to fend for themselves. Parallels come to mind with the situation of refugees in the Mediterranean. The play questions human relationships in times of scarcity with betrayal, oppression and the struggle for survival.
Henze linked his work to the student movement of the late 1960s. The planned premiere in Hamburg in 1968 was extremely controversial on the right and left. After protests, riots and police intervention, the presentation was cancelled.
Watershed as a stage
krater’s production uses a huge pool of water as the stage for Charon’s (Idunnu Münch) descriptions of the raft and the “others” drawn to death (Gloria Rehm). The third solo voice belongs to the sailor Jean-Charles (Günter Papendell), who will discover the saving ship, but will not survive either.
The Komische Oper is one of Berlin’s three main opera houses. The building near Friedrichstrasse will be renovated, converted and expanded. The current cost planning is 478 million euros, but it could become significantly more expensive for the group of classified buildings.