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Organization

Singer

Bass-baritone

Reinhard Mayr

Augenarzt

Soprano

Sandra Trattnigg

Frau des Augenarztes

Rebeca Olvera

Junge Frau

Baritone

Valeriy Murga

Alter Mann

Morgan Moody

1. Blinde

Mezzo-soprano

Irène Friedli

Die Frau des 1 Blinden

Tenor

Peter Sonn

Autodieb

Bass

Andreas Hörl

Polizist

Andreas Winkler

Apothkengehilfe

Sen Guo

Zimmermädchen

Thomas Tatzl

Taxifahrer

Conductor

Zsolt Hamar

Stage director

Stephan Müller

Set designer

Michael Simon

Costume designer

Carla Caminati

Lighting designer

Hans-Rudolf Kunz

Choreographer

Ramses Sigl

Opernhaus Zürich

German

Die Stadt der Blinden

Zurich

Switzerland

Opernhaus

English

Approved

Opera in 5 acts by Anno Schreier based on the novel by José Saramago, libretto by Kerstin Maria Pöhler Commissioned by the Zurich Opera House, funded by the Kunststiftung NRW - supported by the Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz Conductor - Zsolt Hamar Production -Stephan Mueller Stage design - Michael Simon Costumes - Carla Caminati Lighting design - Elfried Roller, Michael Simon Video design - Chris Ziegler Choreography - Ramses Sigl Orchestra - Orchestra of the Zurich Opera With Sandra Trattnigg (The ophthalmologist's wife); Reinhard Mayr (the ophthalmologist); Rebeca Olvera (The Young Woman with Glasses); Valeriy Murga (The Old Man), Morgan Moody (The First Blind Man); Irène Friedli (The wife of the first blind man); Peter Sonn (the car thief), Andreas Hörl (the policeman), Andreas Winkler (the pharmacist's assistant); Sen Guo (The Maid); Thomas Tatzl (The Taxi Driver), N. N. (The Boy), members of the Zurich Opera Orchestra Born in Aachen in 1979, he won with his short opera “Behind Masks” Composer Anno Schreier ours, which was advertised for the second time in 2008 Composition competition "Teatro minimo". As material for his commissioned opera he chose the novel "The City of the Blind" by the Portuguese literary Nobel laureate José Saramago, who was still shortly before his Anno Schreier Death granted the rights to composition. “In the 'City of the Blind'” - according to Anno Schreier - “we tell a parable about the coexistence of People under extreme conditions, under the influence of an unforeseen saw catastrophe - much like what we often hear on the news and reading." “But here it is not war, natural disaster or nuclear disaster that threatens people. Here the catastrophe resides in the people themselves: their ability to see has been robbed. They look in blinding white and are completely at the mercy of each other and their environment. It is like an experimental arrangement: crammed into an isolation camp by the authorities and left to their own devices, the blind form a kind of miniature society, which ultimately becomes a tyranny in the struggle for bare survival. There is only one sighted among the blind: the wife of an ophthalmologist who wants to stay with her blind husband. She would have what it takes to be a heroine, finally commits the - supposedly - liberating tyrannicide, but remains alone with her guilt and the memories of what she was the only one to see. In this experimental set-up, all human feelings, behaviors and character traits - good and bad - appear as if under a monstrous magnifying glass. Normal people 'like you and me' become opera characters - heroes and tyrants, desperate, hopeful and lovers. Because that is what moves us and pulls us along on the opera stage: people who are exposed to extreme situations and extreme feelings - so extreme that nothing else remains for them to express themselves other than singing. "

THE CITY OF THE BLIND - SCREAMERS

Die Stadt der Blinden by Schreier, From (2011/2011), Directed by Stephan Müller,, Conductor Zsolt Hamar, Opernhaus, Zurich, Switzerland

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