Almost 20 years after his first opera, Bernd Franke devoted his compositional work to creating a new opera which premieres on March 14. Coming Up for Air is a commission by Oper Leipzig with support of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung with a libretto by Jessica Walker based on the critical acclaimed novel of the same name by Canadian author Sarah Leipciger.
Musical director Matthias Foremny, stage director Florentine Klepper and dramaturg Marlene Hahn with their creative team of Dirk Becker (stage), Anna Sofie Tuma (costumes) and Philipp Ludwig Stangl (video) created a remarkable production, telling the story of three lives across the flow of time.
In the present time there is Anouk, a writer who suffers from cystic fibrosis and fights for every breath. Anouk comes across the story of L'Inconnue de la Seine (The Unknown from the Seine) which is the mysterious death of a woman in the river Seine in 1899. And then there is a Norwegian puppet maker whose son has drowned in a tragic accident in the 1950s. The plot of the opera spans different time periods and locations, with the characters' stories intertwining and influencing each other.
Coming Up for Air is a life-affirming opera, that is carried by hope and moves between times and countries.
For all performance dates and further information see Oper Leipzig.
