Tamara Lorenzo Gabeiras / Reviżjonijiet

At the Staatstheater Meiningen you can currently marvel at a lively picture by Markus Lüpertz: The painter not only painted the stage design and costumes, but also took over the direction of "La Bohème". It is a premiere of a special kind: at the age of 80, the painter Markus Lüpertz staged his first opera with Puccini's "La Bohème" at the Staatstheater in Meiningen. The gloomy stage design he painted reflects his own Berlin bohemian period, which he experienced as dark, cold and poor, says our critic Uwe Friedrich. Lüpertz has also painted the costumes of the singers, who step forward during their performances and sing to the audience. As a result, the whole thing looks like a lively Lüpertz image. Overall, Friedrich's production is reminiscent of paper theatre, as was very popular among the bourgeoisie in the 19th century. But there is little to be felt here of a psychologization of the characters or of emotionality, Friedrich judges. A successful excursion into directing, nothing more The production is also involuntarily funny in places and overall a "beautiful, really good ensemble theater at a German city or state theater". The conclusion of our critic: A short, entertaining opera that you like to watch. "This is all very beautiful, very decorative. Lüpertz himself has said that he does not see himself as a director. However, I also find that reassuring. This is an excursion that I find successful overall, if you completely refrain from the psychologization of the characters, but want to see a basically extremely conservative view of "La Bohème".

The eagerly awaited directorial debut of painter prince Markus Lüpertz in Meiningen was acclaimed by the premiere audience.Premiere or vernissage? That was the question here. Markus Lüpertz as an opera director, after everything that could be heard from him in advance, could only become an opera from the spirit of painting. The eager opera-goer has done the furnishings more often. However, the refreshingly vital-looking eighty-year-old has never directed it himself. The painter prince no longer wants to become a director In Meiningen he had Maximilian Eisenacher, a co-director for purely artisanal work, at his side. At the press conference, shortly before the premiere, Lüpertz admitted with his typical serene self-irony that he did not intend to become an opera director now. Of course, he did not try to hide the fact that he enjoyed the attention he received. The contradiction mentioned between his clear criticism of the currently dominant way of staging opera as an entertainment event and what happened in Meiningen with and around him for this premiere, he acknowledged with a smile with the remark that he was just a professional artist and lived from his notoriety. Will former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder appear? Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his wife did not come to Meiningen for the directorial debut of painter friend Lüpertz – as already reported in the press. This announcement was part of the apron that the historic theatre location once again needed. But it would have been just an additional treat for the category Miscellaneous anyway. Overwriting of the umpteen times reproduced images? This "La Bohème" was already spectacular. Not only because this applies to every premiere in December of the second corona winter. Especially in areas with worrying numbers of infections. The new artistic director Jens Neundorff von Enzberg in Meiningen and his star guest have caught the right time window. As many spectators as were allowed to fill the rows in a well-masked manner and at the end thoroughly cheered a version of opera that is not common today. Whereby the aura celebrated in Puccini's "La Bohème" above the rooftops of Paris, with artists' existences that freeze, starve, are in arrears with the rent and still live and love, particularly invite an overwriting of the umpteen times reproduced pictures of this repertoire perennial favorite. In addition, with the central love story between Mimì and Rodolfo, which ends with the inevitable death of the young woman. With Puccini's great, languishing tone, his scenic confrontation with a contemporary extension into the afflictions of our present is almost obvious for ambitious directors. In your mind's eye, you can literally see the associative video worlds with images from an increasingly fragmented society, including the diffuse threats posed by global uncertainties. Including the current pandemic threats, which in fact affect every theatre in a very concrete existential way. Opera becomes two-dimensional Lüpertz puts the exact opposite of this on stage and thus for discussion. He insists on his art, on painting and thus first of all on two-dimensionality and color. He does not let movement become a problem because he deliberately refers to the ramp singing and a gesture between baroque theatre and commedia dell'arte. With him, so to speak, all paths lead through the middle to the ramp. From there, the face to the audience is smashed or languished, which holds the stuff. And what the gripping sound that GMD Philippe Bach and the Hofkapelle courageously contribute from the trench requires or allows. Depending on the. Still life on the easel Visually, there is a small stove in the artist's residence against a dark gloomy background (in which the few pages of manuscript paper blaze surprisingly long), two skylights on the floor and an easel, on which a still life is then applied instead of solid food. The costumes are colorful throughout, the make-up strong. All of them are good with a powerful voice. The choir, rehearsed by Manuel Bethe, is juicy green with red caps and has its grand entrance in the Café Momus picture as a decorative Christmas tree with candles in the background. Painter Marcello armed with color palette Whether the butterfly tenor Alex Kim as Rodolfo or Julian Younjin Kim as the painter Marcello armed with color palette or Johannes Mooser, who is known as musician Schaunard due to his of course also two-dimensional instrument box, and Selcuk Hakan Tıraşoğlu, who walks as the philosopher Colline with an academic headdress. Monika Reinhard not only turns her Musetta into a vocal highlight, but also succeeds in taking the step from the two-dimensional sketch into the three-dimensional liveliness of coquetry. Especially when she plays her games with her current lover Alcindoro (Thomas Lüllig), the theater briefly gains the upper hand over painting. Of course, they all have their (sometimes involuntarily funny) ups and downs between the brochures staggered to the depth picture or the painted furniture. The fact that deniz Yetim, who sings convincingly throughout as Mimì and her Rodolfo, is not granted a spatial approach even in reconciliation, and even dies standing up, is not due to any rules of distance here, but to the approach of the painter, who sometimes attributes the plot solely to the music. Conclusion: Experiment successful The visual value of this Gesamtkunstwerk of staged painting with Puccini's music and three distinctly idiosyncratic poetic texts that the painter has written about it and which, performed by himself, are recorded off-screen is enormous. The personal statement that the painter Markus Lüpertz makes about music theatre direction is, of course, controversial. Overall, however, the experiment was a success. You were at a vernissage as well as in a premiere. Both had their own charm. But it also worked together for most viewers.

(nmz) - Of course, he also has a "Flying Dutchman" staged by his predecessor and then a "La Boheme" on the agenda, to which he has seduced the painter prince Markus Lüpertz as director and outfitter. In addition, Jens Neundorff von Enzberg, who was born in Ilmenau, wants to establish a focus on baroque explorations of works that were created in the region but have been forgotten after his change from the directorship in Regensburg to that of the Staatstheater der Thüringer Theaterresidenz Meiningen in Eisenach. In this respect, his season opening with the Händeloper "Amadigi di Gaula" even fits programmatically. But it also suits the health department. Because in every director's office, the virus sits at the table until further notice, i.e. the office fighting it. In such times, an opera with only four protagonists without a choir like this early one by Handel from 1715 is a dream. (For a visitor from the outside, various election posters in Meiningen, with the far-right politicians of the CDU and AfD, however, closer to a nightmare.) Of the 726 seats in the splendour of the theatre duke George II. 500 seats may currently be occupied. At the moment, 3G plus mask also applies during the performance. 2G without a mask would certainly be better received by many visitors. At the end of Handel's sorceress opera "Amadigi di Gaula", half of the staff is dead. That's quite a high rate for an opera seria by this Baroque master. But since there are only four protagonists in total, the carnage is limited. The one dead man is a prince, but he is in love with his friend's lover. Therefore, he first loses his friend (Amadigi) and then becomes the collateral damage of a rather messy relationship box, which is fatally hit in the jealousy duel. Almerija Delic is allowed to return from the realm of the dead in the trouser role of this Dardano and announce as Deus ex machina, where the emergency exit from the intrigue barn towards the happy ending can be found. The second dead woman is the sorceress Melissa (with a fabulous bite: Monika Reinhard). She commits a theatrical suicide on the open stage in the double sense of the word, so not only gives up her stubborn fight for the coveted Amadigi, which is conducted with all the means available to a sorceress, but also herself. Thus, the way to a common future of Amadigi (the baroque scene-compatible counter Rafal Tomkiewicz) and Oriana (with sensitively flexible throat Sara-Maria Saalmann) is finally clear. The fact that the new Director of Meiningen has chosen a Händeloper for the prelude after an annoying forced break is courageous in view of the now well-developed, sometimes highly specialized Baroque scene. But what was offered was not only a firework of Handel's aria art. Premiered in London in 1715, the whole thing is a prime example of the then dominant Italian opera. For this reason alone, the Italian Attilio Cremonesi is the right person at the podium of the court orchestra for her excursion into the baroque opera heritage, which is not too often visited. Tight, pointed and yet light – what the musicians offered provided exactly the tailwind to elevate the protagonists in their alternating bath of emotions into an aria furor, which succeeded better and better in the course of the evening. Scenically, director and outfitter Hinrich Horstkotte opted for a play with baroque theatre. There was a baroque brochure stage on stage, whose theatrical means are presented in detail, plus a more than just hinted opulence in the costumes for the protagonists (Melissa gets away best) and for the half dozen (fury) assistants that the sorceress conjures up again and again in various designs when she tries to ensnare Amadigi or to get his loved one out of the way. For this purpose, the entire repertoire of a baroque stage including its fire and water imitations is unleashed. Horstkotte – as is nowadays the case for a critical contemporary, who also trusts Master Handel with a penchant for the double bottom – does not dare to cross the path of the lieto fine. His Oriana grabs Melissa Dagger as a precaution. Apparently, she already knew at that time that there is still a certain Alcina, who also has a weakness for beautiful heroes....

A magic opera opens the artistic director Jens Neundorff von Enzberg at the Staatstheater Meiningen: Handel's "Amadigi di Gaula" from 1715. The focus is on the – unsuccessfully – demonic witch Melissa, who fights for the love of the knight Amadigi with all demonic means. In the end, she and the Amadigi's rival, Dardano, fall by the wayside; after his death, he may at least from hell still beg the gods for compassion for the two lovers Oriana and Amadigi. But the expected happy ending of the couple is ironically questioned by director and outfitter Hinrich Horstkotte. Because at the wedding, the bride already hides the dagger behind her robe. The external action, however, is only a pretext to show the conflicting feelings as quasi exuberant theater effects in the sense of the Baroque period. The human emotions can be heard right down to the most sensitive movements in Handel's music, concentrated and concisely emphasized by Attilio Cremonesi on the harpsichord and podium of the Meininger Hofkapelle. Today's audience can experience this in the varied personal direction. The fact that the external action is illusion, play, is already clear from the overture: The two "heroes" sit behind the actual stage in an auditorium, backdrops can be seen from behind. After that, the action for the audience in the opera house begins: Melissa appears in ever new disguises, sometimes in baroque pompous robes, sometimes devilishly black, sometimes mysterious dark red glittering, sometimes with a huge rock train over the red dress, sometimes assisted by white ghost women, sometimes with black punk furies, and also the performance locations change often. There are images of nature for the night, cloud backdrops for the day, waves or flames artificially in motion, a fire gate through which Amadigi can walk as a true lover, fake columns, ever higher steps, irritating mirror walls, room escapes, a dragon cave and finally a sea with a cardboard ship on top, which should lead the couple into a happy future – or not? Handel's music, with all facets of sadness, drama, sensitivity, joy, jubilation, leaves this open in a lieto fine in G minor. The sorceress Melissa, embodied by Monika Reinhard in an extremely agile manner and sung with a lot of inner anger, passion, poignant lamentation and furious outbursts, have entered the realm of the dead by suicide, and in a duel the warlike Prince Dardano, Almerija Delic, impressive by the powerful, energetic voice that masters even the most delicate coloraturas. Rafal Tomkiewicz puts the titular hero Amadigi on stage with a well-founded countertenor and waving blond hair, and so he gets "his" Oriana, a widely passive girlish beauty, Sara-Maria Saalmann, who draws a lonely, stubborn lover with finely nuanced, bright soprano.