Organization

Conductor

Ilan Volkov

Stage director

Evgeny Titov

Set designer

Rufus Didwiszus

Costume designer

Falk Bauer

Lighting designer

Martin Gebhardt

Dramaturge

Claus Spahn

Singer

Baritone

Lauri Vasar

King

Soprano

Jeanine De Bique

Isabel

Björn Bürger

Gaveston

Tenor

Mark Milhofer

Mortimer

Sunnyboy Dladla

Young King

Mezzo-soprano

Josy Santos

Woman 2

Singer 2

Witness 2

Bass-baritone

Andrew Moore

Witness 3

Madman

Silent

Nina Vlaovic

Girl

Video designer

Tieni Burkhalter

Ivan Ludlow

Opernhaus Zürich

Traveler

Isabelle Haile

Witness 1

Singer 1

Woman 1

Orchestra

Philharmonia Zürich

Others

Statistenverein am Opernhaus Zürich

enska

Lessons in Love and Violence

Zurich

Switzerland

Opernhaus

Lessons in Love and Violence Benjamin,G

Public

þýska

Approved

LESSONS IN LOVE AND VIOLENCEOper von George Benjamin (*1960)Text von Martin CrimpSchweizer Erstaufführung am 21 Mai 2023www.opernhaus.ch/lessons-in-loveMusik...

LESSONS IN LOVE AND VIOLENCE
Opera by George Benjamin
Premiere on 21 May 2023
www.opernhaus.ch/lessons-in-love

King Edward II lives unreservedly in love with his favorite Gaveston. The two lead lavish lives of music and poetry while the people starve. The king neglects his government business and is hated by his antagonist Mortimer because of it. Mortimer is the type of the ambitious, cold politician who despises love and all things beautiful, wants to gain power by any means necessary, and bloodily brings down the king and his lover. Another player on this chessboard of passions is Queen Isabel, who has two children with Edward II, wants to get her male rival out of the way and sides with Mortimer. And then there is the king's son, who ascends to the throne at the end of the play after the cruel murder of his father. What lessons in love and violence has he learned from his parents?

Jeanine De Bique sings Queen Isabel in "Lessons in Love and Violence" - Opernhaus Zürich

The 62-year-old Englishman George Benjamin is one of the leading contemporary composers and has received worldwide recognition for his two most recent operas, Written on Skin and Lessons in Love and Violence . Benjamin's works for music theater, in which the English author Martin Crimp is his constant partner, stand for a psychologically precise, classic approach to literary-dramatic material, character studies designed with sharp contours and an expressively plastic treatment of the orchestra. At the Zurich Opera House we present Benjamin's most recent opera Lessons in Love and Violence , which premiered in London in 2018, as a Swiss premiere. The subject is about the Shakespearean contemporary Christopher Marlowe and his actingEdward II , which Crimp adapted. At the center of the dark drama is the power-weary King Edward, who neglects the affairs of state and his people in favor of a perverted love of art and a homoerotic relationship with his favorite Gaveston. The military commander Mortimer, who is ambitious for the crown and who is the lover of Edward's wife Queen Isabella, becomes his enemy and has Gaveston executed and the king cruelly killed. The spiral of violence eventually spreads to the next generation, Isabella and Edward's children, who have learned their lessons in love and violence. Lessons in Love and Violenceis a story about the amorality of those in power, about cold lust for power and the heat of desire and the private sphere as the true battlefield of political atrocities. In addition to the composer, the production brings other new artists to the Zurich Opera House: the fiery Russian drama and opera director Evgeny Titov, who has caused a sensation from the Salzburg Festival to the Komische Oper Berlin in recent years, makes his debut. Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov, an expert on contemporary scores, is at the rostrum, and highly regarded Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique is also making her debut as Isabel at the Zurich Opera House.

English

Der 62-jährige Engländer George Benjamin gehört zu den führenden Komponisten der Gegenwart und fand vor allem für seine beiden jüngsten Opern Written on Skin und Lessons in Love and Violence weltweite Anerkennung. Benjamins Arbeiten für das Musiktheater, bei denen der englische Autor Martin Crimp sein ständiger Partner ist, stehen für einen psychologisch präzisen, klassischen Zugriff auf literarisch-dramatische Stoffe, konturenscharf entworfene Charakterstudien und eine ausdrucksintensiv plastische Orchesterbehandlung. Am Opernhaus Zürich präsentieren wir Benjamins jüngste, 2018 in London uraufgeführte Oper Lessons in Love and Violence als Schweizerische Erstaufführung. Der Stoff geht auf den Shakespeare-Zeitgenossen Christopher Marlowe und dessen Schauspiel Edward II. zurück, das Crimp adaptiert hat. Im Zentrum des düsteren Dramas steht der machtmüde König Edward, der die Regierungsgeschäfte und sein Volk zugunsten einer pervertierten Kunstliebe und der homoerotischen Beziehung zu seinem Günstling Gaveston vernachlässigt. Zu seinem Feind wird der ehrgeizig zur Krone strebende Heerführer Mortimer, der der Geliebte von Edwards Gattin Königin Isabella ist, Gaveston hinrichten und den König grausam töten lässt. Die Spirale der Gewalt greift schliesslich auch auf die nächste Generation, auf die Kinder von Isabella und Edward, über, die ihre Lektionen in Liebe und Gewalt gelernt haben. Lessons in Love and Violence ist eine Geschichte über die Amoral der Herrschenden, über kalte Machtgier und die Hitze des Begehrens und das Private als der wahre Kampfplatz politischer Grausamkeiten. Die Produktion bringt neben dem Komponisten weitere neue Künstler ans Opernhaus Zürich: Der feuerköpfige russische Schauspiel- und Opernregisseur Evgeny Titov, der in den vergangenen Jahren von den Salzburger Festspielen bis zur Komischen Oper Berlin für Furore gesorgt hat, gibt sein Debüt. Der israelische Dirigent Ilan Volkov, ein Experte für zeitgenössische Partituren, steht am Dirigentenpult, und die hochgehandelte, aus Trinidad stammende Sopranistin Jeanine De Bique tritt als Isabel ebenfalls zum ersten Mal am Opernhaus Zürich auf.

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