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Boris Nikitin: Sänger ohne Schatten

Music Theater / Performance

  • © Jörg Baumann
    (c) Jörg Baumann
  • (c) Ruhrtriennale, Video: Boris Nikitin, 2014
  • © Jörg Baumann
    (c) Jörg Baumann
  • (c) Ruhrtriennale, Video: Boris Nikitin, 2014
  • © Jörg Baumann
    (c) Jörg Baumann

An evening oscillates between authentic performance and great illusion: one enters a studio stage, with cables lying about, a flickering television, a control panel. There are voices to be heard, later a piano as well: three opera singers and a pianist turn towards us. They speak about their lives as singers, they sing, alone or together, the pianist as well occasionally touches the keys. They tell of their profession, their bodies as instruments, and how this work changes them.

We get to know three personalities, American soprano Karan Armstrong, former prima donna at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, Christoph Homberger, the Swiss tenor known for his unconventional work with Herbert Wernicke and Christoph Marthaler, and the German countertenor Yosemeh Adjei, who could be heard at Ruhrtriennale 2012 in John Cage’s Europeras 1&2. They are the stars of the evening: an unlikely combination of three highly notable singers, three vocal types, three age groups, three professional paths, and at the same time three experts in reproducing feeling.

In his prizewinning work, young Swiss director Boris Nikitin explores the limits of truth and dissimulation on stage. For his debut at Ruhrtriennale, he will be working with singers for the first time. We will witness a puzzling game of deception in which bodies and identities transform and space expands. Artificially created expression suddenly becomes genuine feeling. Are singers lying to us? Do we allow ourselves to be seduced by song? What is true?

Concept and Direction —
Boris Nikitin
Stage —
David Hohmann, Boris Nikitin
Costumes —
Anna Sophia Röpcke
Conceptual Collaboration, Sound, Light —
Matthias Meppelink
Dramaturgy —
Stephan Buchberger
With —
Yosemeh Adjei, Karan Armstrong, Christoph Homberger
Piano —
Stefan Wirth

Shows

Location
— Maschinenhalle Zweckel, Gladbeck
Premiere
— 22. August 2014
Further dates
— 23. 28. 29. 30. August 5. 6. 7. September
Duration
— ca. 1 h 40 min
Tickets
— 20 / 30 €
Reduced prices start at 10,00 €
August
September
  • Fri 5Sep
    20.00
    Boris Nikitin: Sänger ohne Schatten on 5. September 2014 at 8.00 PM
    waiting list *
  • Sat 6Sep
    20.00
    Boris Nikitin: Sänger ohne Schatten on 6. September 2014 at 8.00 PM
    Register for shuttlebus
  • Sun 7Sep
    20.00
    Boris Nikitin: Sänger ohne Schatten on 7. September 2014 at 8.00 PM
    Register for shuttlebus
* The decision whether and when tickets can be returned for sale is usually based on artistic reasons. Frequently it is only evident during the rehearsal process or the technical preparations whether technical barriers, for example, may be moved or removed. In such an event, seats and therefore also tickets will become available. Current information is available in our TicketServiceMail.

Recommendations

Open discussion
— 29. August: following the show

Press Comments

Die berührende Uraufführung von Sänger ohne Schatten auf der Ruhrtriennale sorgte für Staunen, Lachen und Vergnügen.

— Deutschlandradio Fazit, 22.08.2014

…hinreißende Momente…

— Der Spiegel, 25.08.2014

Und so ist bewiesen: Die Macht des Gesangs lässt alles andere hinter sich.

— Deutschlandfunk, 23.08.2014

A production by Ruhrtriennale.