In collaboration with
An opera that combines two simultaneous actions in two different periods of time and context and is an emotional earthquake. A spectacular setting that will show the spatial duality of a concentration camp and a holiday cruise, two antagonistic situations experienced by both protagonists of this moving opera about forgiveness.
Above, the deck of a transatlantic en route to Brazil. Below, the horrifying memory of a concentration camp. Between both these settings are two women, trying to escape their past in search of a better future. Based on the autobiographical work by Zofia Posmysz – Polish journalist and novelist, a survivor of Auschwitz and Ravensbrück–, Die Passagierin represents an emotional cataclysm whose epicentre is the relationship between two women who were in Auschwitz in two very different positions: one was a prison guard and the other, a Jewish prisoner.
The story spread across Poland as a radio drama (The Passenger from Cabin 45, 1957), a novel (The Passenger, 1962) and a homonymous film (1963) before Shostakovich recognised its suitability for an opera. He recommended it to the Polish-born Soviet composer Mieczylaw Weinberg, who bore the dubious honour of having suffered the fury of anti-Semitism in both its Nazi and Stalinist variants. Completed in 1968 and silenced for decades by the Russian authorities, this shocking opera comes to the Teatro Real backed by an irrepressible international fame.
Melodramma in two acts
Music by Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)
Libretto by Alexander Medvedev, based on the novel of the same name (1962) by Zofia Posmysz
Premiere in a semi-staged version at the Moscow International Auditorium on 25 December 2006 and in a staged version at the Bregenz Festival on 21 July 2010.
Premiere in Spain
New production of the Teatro Real, in co-production with Bregenz Festival, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and English National Opera.
Artistic team
Musical conductor: Mirga Gražinytè-Tyla
Stage director: David Pountney
Set design: Johan Engels
Costumes: Marie-Jeanne Lecca
Lighting: Fabrice Kebour
Chorus master: José Luis Basso
Cast
Marta: Amanda Majeski
Tadeusz: Gyula Orendt
Katja: Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilvie
Krzystina: Lidia Vinyes-Curtis
Vlasta: Marta Fontanals-Simmons
Hannah: Nadezhda Karyazina
Ivette: Olivia Doray
Alte: Helen Field
Bronka: Liuba Sokolova
Lisa: Daveda Karanas
Walter: Nikolai Schukoff
Älterer Passagier / Steward / Kommandant: Graeme Danby
Oberaufseherin / Kapo: Géraldine Dulex
Men of the S.S.: Hrólfur Sæmundsson, Marcell Bakonyi y Albert Casals
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real
In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of Gerard Mortier (1943-2014)
