Svanda the Bagpiper by Weinberger, Pk 01 apr 2022, No (2022/2022), Režisēja Andreas Homoki, Diriģents Ainars Rubikis, Komische Oper, Berlin, Germany

Once king's throne, then hell and back, please! – Jaromír Weinberger achieved a sensational success with his Schwanda, the Bagpiper, premiered in Prague in 1927, which was performed thousands of times in Europe and the USA until 1933. After the musical world success My Fair Lady, Andreas Homoki is now staging the late romantic music theatre comedy about this bagpiper. Baritone Daniel Schmutzhard as the Bohemian mood cannon and – as the eternally beloved Dorotka – Kiandra Howarth. Together with General Music Director Ainārs Rubiķis, they conquer hearts, the world and – the underworld! Just in time for dinner, he stands on the farm: Babinský – shrub thief, folk hero, legend – and takes the young Schwanda with his bagpipes with him. It attracts an adventure, the big world! With a good mood and his instrument, the young man warms a queen's heart made of ice, wins a people, gets into jealousy processes and even into hell antics. But hell is above all one thing: boring to die! With Babinský's help, wit and sleight of hand, Schwanda saves his soul and returns to the love of his life in the end. With Schwanda, Jaromír Weinberger created a work that was as comical as it was touching, which was one of the most frequently performed operas between 1927 and 1933. This declaration of love to Bohemia, created from fabrics and figures of the homeland, has its musical roots in folk songs and dances of the region and bears flowers both in the style of the operas of his compatriot Bedřich Smetana – above all The Bartered Bride – as well as the late Romantic orchestral sounds à la Franz Schreker or Richard Strauss. Paradoxically, only one instrument does not know this score: a bagpipe!