On September 4 the new opera Berlin Alexanderplatz from Vivan and Ketan Bhatti will receive its world premiere at Theater Bielefeld, Germany.
The German libretto based on the novel of the same title by Alfred Döblin was written by Christiane Neudecker.
Wolfgang Nägele directs the premiere production conducted by Anne Hinrichsen,
With Berlin Alexanderplatz, published in 1929, Alfred Döblin wrote a key work of modernism and one of the first big city novels ever. Therefore, it was not the anti-hero Franz Biberkopf, but the city of Berlin with one of its liveliest and most chaotic places that gave the book its name. This polyphony of a metropolis is heard here for the first time as an interdisciplinary musical theatre piece. In Christiane Neudecker's libretto, not only the individuals, but also the background noise of the city is given its own voice and is skillfully translated into an urban sound by Vivan and Ketan Bhatti. This metropolitan sound encompasses different sound worlds – from 1920s hits to electronic club music to contemporary new music – and forms it into a tonal language that branches out from the early 20th century setting. The city sings, speaks and dances.
Berlin Alexanderplatz was commissioned by Bühnen und Orchester der Stadt Bielefeld. Supported by the Hanns Bisegger Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia within the scheme of Fonds Neues Musiktheater 2020-2022.
The production continues until November 2 with seven performances – Book tickets
