Set Designer

Director

The work of the piano tuner is indispensable for any concert or opera, but it takes place away from the public eye. As with so many things in life, the pursuit of perfect tuning inevitably leads to compromise, thanks to extenuating circumstances. Music theorist Andreas Werckmeister understood this already at the end of the 17th century, when he toiled to understand the pitfalls of mean-tone temperament, trying to bring structure to the chaos. Alongside Werckmeister's cryptic-philosophical texts, compositions from Schütz to Charles Ives form the starting point for this music theater creation by Swiss theater artist Thom Luz. The work will be presented in the former «Kino Sternen» in Zurich-Oerlikon, which will open as the new «Oper im Quartier» venue starting in the 2026/27 season.

Werckmeister Harmonies

Zurich Opera House

Riding a rickety horse, Don Quixote traverses the plains of La Mancha. His boundless imagination transforms windmills into giants, taverns into castles, and a stranger into an immortal lover. Cervantes’ famous novel defies all conventions. Thousands of adaptations have already failed spectacularly in their attempt to retell his story. Theater artist Thom Luz follows in the footsteps of the dreamy knight, crisscrossing through music history all the way to his deathbed. But Don Quixote isn’t ready: fleeing his death scene, he hides within works spanning five centuries. This poetic game of confusion keeps conjuring up new castles in the air, leaving only one question: Who is right—the dreamer or reality?

Don Quijote

Theater Basel

The composer Engelbert Humperdinck based his work on the most famous of all fairy tales. The operatic version of the story of the siblings Hänsel and Gretel, who lose their way in the forest and nearly fall victim to the Knusperhexe, or witch, has always inspired audiences. The music takes well-known folk melodies and combines them with large, shimmering soundscapes that move between dream and reality, and between fears and fantasies. Zurich-born director Thom Luz has received numerous awards for his theater work. With «Hansel and Gretel», he makes his long-awaited opera debut, and unleashes the poetic power of theatrical magic. Lithuanian conductor Giedrė Šlekytė musically directs.

Hansel and Gretel

Cage and Stockhausen meet in a scenic concert in the historic hall of Hamburg Central Station. In the extensive installation We Make Years Out of Hours by Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė, the Zafraan Ensemble – as a satellite of the musical theatre Music of Changes – works with singers from the opera ensemble to weave two of the composers’ works together: Cage’s Hymns and Variations (1979) uses the random thinning of religious hymns to illustrate the path «from something to nothing and back again,» while Stockhausen’s instrumental piece Stop (1965) generates an intense, physical experience of presence and energy from abruptly interrupted sound events. Based on these pieces, the installation itself becomes a score. Perception moves to the centre, the boundaries of listening are shifted – for both composers, the most important exercise for the salvation of humanity.

Music of Many

Contemporary Art National Gallery

Together with the Berlin-based Zafraan Ensemble, the musically playful and versatile theatre artist Thom Luz and Titus Engel, conductor-in-residence at Deutsche Oper Berlin, have created an evening of musical theatre in which John Cage’s work can be experienced in its entirety: from the surprisingly captivating percussion pieces of his early years, through the more contemplative thinning and dissolution harmonies of his middle period, to the sound meditations of his late works, shaped entirely by chance and the initiative of his own interpretation. More than a century after his birth, Cage’s work still contains one of the most radical musical answers to the most pressing question facing our society: How can we create a structure in which the most diverse sounds can coexist without one sound dominating, controlling, suppressing, reinterpreting or even obliterating another? In a performance space somewhere between a concert hall and a musical gymnasium, Cage’s compositions and concepts are performed and brought to life: The audience experiences how Cage’s sonic world order unfolds across the stage and transforms the space. What begins like a classical concert evening reveals itself as a chance-orchestrated founding assembly of a future society that functions entirely according to musical principles: Freedom is the space between five staves, harmony is a form of order that also encompasses incompatibility. The inclusion of chance as a structuring element becomes a comprehensible and captivating encounter for the audience with the possibilities of non-deterministic decision-making: Each performance is a world premiere; no two performances are exactly alike. Thus, a novel portrait of the composer emerges – and a call to action for us, the people of the present: Engage with this resonance and forget the idea of humanity at the centre of power and meaning in creation.

Music of Changes

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The work of a piano tuner is indispensable for all concert and opera performances, yet it takes place behind closed doors, away from the public eye. The pursuit of perfect tuning, like so much in life, inevitably leads to compromise due to external constraints. This was already recognized by the music theorist Andreas Werckmeister, who, in the late 17th century, grappled with the intricacies of meantone temperament and sought to bring order to the system. Werckmeister's cryptic-philosophical texts and compositions, ranging from Schütz to Charles Ives, form the starting point for the music theater creation of the Swiss theater director Thom Luz.

Set Designer, Director

Thom Luz

Events

Upcoming events

5 - 6 Dec, 2026

Music of Many · Deutsche Oper Berlin

5 - 13 Mar, 2027

Music of Changes · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Apr 22 - May 2, 2027

Werckmeister Harmonies · Opernhaus Zürich

Past events

12 - 27 Jun, 2026

Werckmeister Harmonies · Opernhaus Zürich

May 8 - Jun 21, 2026

Don Quijote · Theater Basel

About

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