Die Griechische Passion

In the organizer's words:

Like a parable of our time

Supported by the New Music Theater Fund
Opera in four acts / Original title The Greek Passion / Libretto by the composer based on the novel The Christ Crucified Again by Nikos Kazantzakis / First version from 1957 / In English with German surtitles

A wealthy village looks forward to the Passion Festival. A priest who distributes the roles. A poor shepherd who is to play Jesus. A fun-loving young woman who is to play Mary Magdalene. And suddenly a crowd of refugees: People from another village who have fled their homeland from a violent enemy and are now seeking protection.
What sounds like a parable of our times was written by the Greek poet Nikos Kazantzakis, who became world-famous in 1946 for his novel Alexis Sorbas. The Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů, who himself had been forced to flee Europe to escape the Nazis, sought him out and worked on a libretto with him in 1954, in which the two authors let two groups of people clash as if in an experimental set-up - expressly under the auspices of Christian humanity, whose ideals are, however, taken ad absurdum in many storylines.

The Greek Passion is Martinů's most unified and mature opera. He developed a musical language for this stirring work that enriches his previous idiom with Greek folklore, Greek Orthodox liturgy and dance music.