MATSUKAZE

In the organizer's words:

The dreamlike opera Matsukaze, an adaptation of a 15th century Japanese Nō play by Master Zeami, tells the tragic story of two sisters, the salt collectors Matsukaze and Murasame, who fell in love with the nobleman Yukihira. One day he left for the city and never returned. The sisters waited endlessly for him. Even after their death, they remain prisoners of their longing. As eternal spirits, they are bound to a beach where there is only a single pine tree, where they continue to collect salt. Hundreds of years later, a monk seems to offer them a path to redemption. Will they finally be able to let go?

Toshio Hosokawa's aim in composing Matsukaze was to create a Nō theater that is alive for our time and to enable new ways of staging opera. He describes the central theme of Nō theater as the "drama of soul healing" - particularly pronounced in the subgenre Mugen Nō, which focuses on the blending of dream or illusion and reality and to which Matsukaze belongs. These aspects are also taken up by the directing duo Lotte van den Berg and Tobias Staab. In their approach to the play, they pose questions about the attachment and redemption of souls: What do we hold on to? What can set us free? And do we even want that? Together with a diverse ensemble of singers and dancers, they explore these facets of dependency - in a space designed by the internationally renowned artist Alicja Kwade, who also invites the audience to fall under the spell of this opera installation.

Cast:

• Musical direction Alexandre Bloch
• Staging Lotte van den BergTobiasStaab
• Stage Alicja Kwade
• Costumes Annika Lu
• Sound artist Mieko Suzuki
• Lighting Matthias Singer
• Choir Johannes Knecht
• DramaturgySaskiaKruse

• Matsukaze Seonwoo Lee Yumiko Yoshioka
• Murasame Natalie Lewis Yuko Kaseki
• Monk Paweł Horodyski Thomas Schmauser
• Fisherman Bruno Khouri Mieko Suzuki
• The Tree /Yukihira Corey Scott-Gilbert
• Munich Chamber Orchestra
• VOCES Stuttgart