F. Brillembourg: Innocence in Nuremberg

On 2 November 2025 the mezzo-soprano Fredrika Brillembourg will perform the premiere of Kaija Saariaho‘s last opera Innocence at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. She already sang the role of the TEACHER to great acclaim in the same opera in spring 2025 at the Semperoper Dresden. Further performances are scheduled for 8/16/23 November 2025, 3 December 2025 and 17/26/29 January 2026. Roland Böer will conduct the Staatsphilharmonie and the Choir of the Staatstheater Nürnberg, and Jens-Daniel Herzog is responsible for the stage direction. Mathis Neidhardt designed the set, and Sibylle Gädeke the costumes. Further singers on stage among other soloists will be Almerija Delic (Tereza, waitress), Julia Grüter (Stela, bride), Chloë Morgan (Patricia, mother-in-law), Martin Platz (Tuomas, groom), and Jochen Kupfer (Henrik, father-in-law).

(published on 20 October 2025)

Vanessa Porter: BETTER ME in Karlsruhe

On 25 October 2025, the percussionist Vanessa Porter will present her duo programme BETTER ME together with Emil Kuyumcuyan at the ZeitGenuss-Festivals Karlsruhe. The percussionists will play own compositions and will throw the spotlight on the growing desire for self-determination and (self-)staging that characterizes our society today. Everyone wants to be heard, seen and recognized; they fight to live according to their own ideas. "BETTER ME" artistically describes the search for self-determination, law and justice as well as the resulting consequences. The boundaries between improvisation, performance, electronics, percussion and the performers' own compositions are blurred. The video artist Rafael Ossami Saidy has created the video projections and Sebastian Schottke will be responsible for the concert’s sound direction. BETTER ME has been premiered during the festival Heidelberger Frühling 2024.

(published on 14 October 2025)

Sarah Maria Sun: Musica Viva in Munich

On 23 October 2025, the soprano Sarah Maria Sun will perform Jörg Widmann‘s Versuch über die Fuge in the series Musica Viva of the Bayerischer Rundfunk at the Herkulessaal - Residenz Munich. Together with musicians of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Korbinian Altenberger (violin), Lorenz Chen (violin), Benedict Hames (viola) and Jaka Stadler (cello), Sarah Maria Sun focuses on Jörg Widmann’s compositions for string quartet. Further works of the programme will be his 1. Streichquartett, Choralquartett, Jagdquartett and 4. Streichquartett. The soprano is a regular guest at symphony orchestras and string quartets for Widmann’s piece Versuch über die Fuge: In 2026 she will perform it with the Bamberg Symphony in Bamberg and with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover at the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen.

(published on 7 October 2025)

T. Augestad: Marthaler-Revival

The highly acclaimed production Wachs oder Wirklichkeit (wax or reality) by Christoph Marthaler, Anna Viebrock, Malte Ubenauf and ensemble will have its revival on 13 October 2025 at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz Berlin with the mezzo-soprano Tora Augestad. Further performances will take place on 19 October 2025 and 30 November 2025 as well as during the entire 2025/26 season. As performers on stage Hildegard Alex, Franz Beil, Magne Håvard Brekke, Altea Garrido, Olivia Grigolli, Jürg Kienberger, Rosa Lembeck and Clemens Sienknecht will join Tora Augestad.

 Jürgen Otten resumed enthusiastically in the magazine OPERNWELT:
Or a spiritual-sounding a cappella choral piece by Gesualdo, sung in the gallery like a serenade about the limitations of life. Or the kitsch pop song ‘Nimm mich in die Wirklichkeit’ (Take Me into Reality) by Beate Ling, which Tora Augestad, dressed as a Taylor Swift lookalike in a skimpy blue glitter dress, breathes so sweetly into the hall that one could almost drown in sentimentality. It is not only at this moment that one gets the feeling that this (dialectically infused) reality might be more profound than Heidegger's being, which only scratches the surface. And that really doesn't seem like the worst idea: that one can gain something more from life than just the principle of decline, which is so often discussed on this poetic evening of music theatre. And sometimes 90 melancholic minutes are enough for that.

(published on 30 September 2025)