«I am the enemy you killed, my friend,» writes an English lieutenant in 1918 on the front in northern France. On the day of the ceasefire, Wilfred Owen falls at the age of 25. The death knell and the peal of peace bells overlap, their echo resonating in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem: an anti-militarist, anti-nationalist monument of remembrance, collective mourning and personal loss. Marked by the violence of two world wars, the work was premiered in 1962 to celebrate the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. Just as the ruins are integrated into the new architecture there, Owen’s poems also disrupt the structure of the Latin Requiem Mass. Britten’s setting draws on the emotional power of the Requiem tradition and incorporates that insight into human nature that distinguishes him as an opera composer. War Requiem stands for pacifism as an artistic stance and, sadly, is no less relevant in our political present. The internationally acclaimed production from London where, in 2018, it commemorated the end of the First World War, also makes a stance for peace. It is now being rehearsed by the artistic team around director Daniel Kramer and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans at the invitation of Deutsche Oper Berlin. In this production, Kramer’s poetically powerful physical work merges with the unconventional, worldly perspective of star photographer Tillmans, who is making his operatic debut in Berlin. Together, they create timeless situations where trauma and solace, weight and intimacy reside. Photographic snapshots crown the space, seeming to observe themselves, coalescing into silent landscapes. In the spirit of artistic exchange, the solo parts at the premiere were to be sung by a Russian soprano, a British tenor and a German baritone. At the last minute, the Soviet government prevented its star soprano from participating. Now this symbolic cast is to be realised under the musical direction of Britten expert Sir Donald Runnicles with Elena Tsallagova, Nicky Spence and Björn Bürger.

This production was originally created by English National Opera and National Performing Arts Center (Taiwan). With generous support from: International Music and Art Foundation, Dr Manfred Semmer and Dr Karlheinz Knauthe, Arend and Brigitte Oetker, Stiftung für die Deutsche Oper Berlin

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