Lighting Designer

This new production of one of the most fascinating contemporary works of music theater celebrates its premiere at this year's edition of the Salzburg Festival. Based on Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, Claus H. Henneberg and Peter Eötvös contributed the libretto for the opera in three sequences. The Klangforum Wien Orchestra performs under the direction of Maxime Pascal and Alphonse Cemin.

EPSG:4326

Salzburger Festspiele – Tri Sestri

Felsenreitschule

Irina can't bear it any longer; it bursts out of her: "My God! Where has it all gone? I've forgotten everything." Then, as if suddenly: "We'll never move to Moscow." Neither the past with its memories nor the future with its hopes offer any support. Time erodes and shrinks to the present—and here emptiness, dissatisfaction, pain, loneliness reign. A condition that haunts almost all the characters in Peter Eötvös' opera Three Sisters (1998)—they are those from Anton Chekhov's drama of the same name. The reactions are varied: repression or relativization, resignation or escape, and, of course, new dreams, hopes, or even plans. Yet a seemingly unbridgeable gap remains between today and the longed-for tomorrow. Why don't these people make it to Moscow, a symbol of a different, better, more meaningful life? What obstacles—internal, external—hold them back? It's a question we continually find ourselves confronting anew, one that brings us so close to Chekhov's and, by extension, Eötvös's characters. It becomes all the more acute in the face of a suddenly spreading fire—a catastrophe that challenges us to take concrete action, that confronts us with destruction and suffering, with death, and the awareness that our own life could end sooner than we imagined.

Three Sisters

Myth, magic, music, movement, and mesmerizing imagery combine in revered South African visual artist William Kentridge’s newest production.
Presented in two parts, SIBYL is inspired by the Greek myth of the Cumaean Sibyl, and wrestles with the human desire to know our future, and our helplessness before powers and technologies that obscure that knowledge from us. The chamber opera Waiting for the Sibyl features nine vocalists and dancers interacting with Kentridge’s distinctive stage design, which energizes the action of the performers with hand-painted sets, animated ink drawings, swirling projected text, collage, and shadow play.
Kentridge has taken the opera world by storm in recent years with his strikingly original productions of works by Berg, Mozart, and Shostakovich, which have graced such illustrious stages as the Metropolitan Opera, the English National Opera, the Théâtre National de l’Opéra (Paris), the Staatsoper (Berlin), and the Sydney Opera House, among many others.

William Kentridge's SIBYL

University of California, Berkeley

Neither balsam, nor medicinal herbs can provide relief to the wounded and ailing Amfortas, ruler of the Grail kingdom. His path to recovery proves to be a complex one. No member of the Grail community can reclaim the spear which inflicted the wound, but only an outsider, a “pure fool”, enlightened by compassion. Only by the tip of this spear touching Amfortas’s wound can he be healed. On his journey of self-discovery, towards his destiny as chosen deliverer, Parsifal is accompanied, not only by the skilful Grail Knight Gurnemanz, but also by the enigmatic and seductive Kundry, who opens his eyes to sensuality and extrasensory experience.

Parsifal

Max-Joseph-Platz

La bohème

San Carlo Theatre

The people are thirsty for blood. Another suitor for the hand of the sovereign is about to be publicly beheaded, because Princess Turandot is determined never to belong to any man. That’s why anyone who wants to marry her must first solve three riddles. Anyone who fails has to pay with his life. An unknown prince, revolted by Turandot’s cruelty, yet attracted by her beauty, takes on this potentially lethal risk – and solves the riddles. But has he awakened the ice-cold, man-murdering sovereign to love and put an end to her barbarity?

Lighting Designer

Urs Schönebaum

Events

Upcoming events

5 - 11 Apr, 2026

Parsifal · Bayerische Staatsoper

8 - 14 Apr, 2026

La bohème · Teatro di San Carlo

Jun 6 - Jul 6, 2026

Turandot · Bayerische Staatsoper

Past events

8 - 24 Aug, 2025

Salzburger Festspiele – Tri Sestri · Klangforum Wien

8 - 24 Aug, 2025

Three Sisters · Salzburger Festspiele

About

Urs Schönebaum hasn't added a bio