Sternenhoch by Acher, Frá (2022/2023), Leikstýrt af Michal Dočekal,, Hljómsveitarstjóri Jan Bubak, Národní divadlo (National Theatre), Prague, Czech Republic

Ladislav Klíma’s grotesque romanetto The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch has like an inextinguishable fire now stricken a fifth generation of seekers of earthly and cosmic forces. Stricken, inspired, burnt and ignited. The prose’s unique combination of the low and the high, the comical and the horrific, philosophy of the uppermost spheres and everyday lewdness served as a sufficient breeding ground for a music creator with a penchant for morphing genres, a creator who likes to alternate darkness with the burlesque, and feels a close affinity to the author of the novel in terms of making use of the time entrusted to us on earth. The expressionistic nature of Ladislav Klíma’s book and the subject of a fictitious diary abounding in murders, dreams about murders, tattle and high philosophising of the five main characters directly urges the application of trained voices within the new context of the sonic potential of electronic composition. Composition that, notwithstanding an experimental approach, has not altogether deserted the domain of historical music yet utilises it in novel acoustic options, blending sampling, electronics and live instruments. The production of Ivan Acher’s Sternenhoch, directed by Michal Dočekal, has become a true contemporary opera blockbuster, lauded by the critics and enjoying unceasing demand on the part of audiences and music festivals. The Divadelní noviny readers voted it Production of 2018. The production’s performance was recorded with the support of Opera Vision and Creative Europe.