Lighting Designer

An heir to the throne is murdered. Shortly afterwards, the world is in flames, the “last days of mankind” have begun. Over 100 years ago, the Austrian writer Karl Kraus documented the developments of the First World War and transformed them into a megalomaniac drama for a “Martian theatre”: “Theatre-goers of this world will not be able to withstand it”, he prophesied. How the world can suddenly slide into war is something Karl Kraus tries to capture in the 220 scenes of his monumental tragedy, along with the interaction of propaganda, media, religion, education and corporate greed that fuels the global conflagration. Street conversations, newspaper reports, advertising posters, slogans and discussions are unleashed by Kraus as satirical bullets.

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The Last Days of Mankind

Staatenhaus Köln

The Antichrist makes his entrance into a godless world. Sent by Lucifer into the world, he adopts many guises. Mankind is tested and tempted by pride, lust, lies, despondency and hatred in an “all-against-all altercation”. Langgaard’s opera is suffused with fin de siècle atmosphere and pessimism, warning of catastrophe and denouncing the vices of the modern age: egotism, arrogance, frivolity. Langgaard, though, was also an optimist, convinced of the transformative, transcendental power of art and the importance of music as a thread connecting people to the godhead. So it is that the world is freed of all evil and sorrow in the culminating chorus scene in ANTIKRIST.

Antichrist

Deutsche Oper Berlin

At first glance, the relationship between Connor and Felix seems to be going well. But now the famous film producer Felix is ​​being accused of abuse. Connor has to decide whether to stick with him. Nobody suspects that Connor is carrying a dark secret from the past.

Double Serpent: by Sam Max

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

The years between the death of Ivan the Terrible and the ascension of the Romanov family to the throne are known in Russia as the “Time of Troubles”. During this time, Boris Godunov strives to gain power with an iron determination. However, the ghosts of the past catch up with him and he dies a madman, abandoned and betrayed by everyone. In the meantime, the country sinks ever deeper into corruption, putsches and intrigue. A new “Time of Troubles” dawned during Modest Mussorgsky’s lifetime: the old order faltered and could not survive, everyone felt it. During a period of political upheaval and shaken by dramatic developments in his private life, Mussorgsky created a work about the arrogance of power and the eroticism of betrayal – as contradictory and fascinating as his personality itself.

Boris Godunov

Staatsoper Hamburg

The surprise hit of Deutsche Oper Berlin for the past few seasons: Completed almost ten years before the Second World War, the only opera by Danish composer Rued Langgaard oracularly foreshadows an approaching apocalypse. Antikrist is a unique work in music history, in which powerful sounds kaleidoscopically intertwine with an enigmatic language. Only staged in 1999, almost 50 years after its creator's death, the work is an absolute rarity on international operatic stages. Ersan Mondtag's production brings Antikrist to the stage in unprecedented splendour. The director and exceptional interdisciplinary artist has received numerous awards for his monumental works and his impressive creative power; in this production, he has horrific figures appear amidst pop-cultural references and dance an infernal choreography around them. Langgaard's apocalyptic mystery is thus brought to life as an expressionistic moving image. With Martyn Brabbins, one of the most interesting conductors of 20th-century music returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Lighting Designer

Rainer Casper

Events

Upcoming events

16 - 27 May, 2027

Antikrist · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

Jun 27 - Jul 9, 2025

The Last Days of Mankind · Oper Köln

Apr 24 - May 2, 2025

Antichrist · Deutsche Oper Berlin

About

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