Horror-Opern. Gesellschaftlich Verdrängtes und kollektive Ängste in aktuellen Opern [Artist Talk]

In the organizer's words:

Operas have often dragged the hidden to the surface, the longings, fears and - above all - desires. In late 19th and early 20th century opera in particular, it was the unspoken sexual desires that found expression behind the bourgeois façades in the sound excesses of Wagner, Schreker, Zemlinsky and Strauss. Even if many of the taboos of that time are no longer taboos today, we still repress many things: desires, but perhaps more hatred, fear, anger or helplessness. Perhaps this is why horror stories are more appropriate than the repressed desires of the turn of the century, because horror stories also confront us with the repressed, they address collective fears and are therefore always political (think of films like Get Out (2017) by Jordan Peele).

Horror operas seem to be the appropriate response to a time of uncertainty. Operas are as important and relevant as ever in coping with and confronting collective fears of the self. Whatever is hidden in the depths of our collective souls, whatever frightens us about ourselves, opera brings it to light - but in such a way that repressed fears are transformed into a pleasant creepiness and hidden desires into longing. Because operas can do magic!

In conversation with Fabian Czolbe, composers Gordon Kampe and Ulrich Kreppein provide insights into their current operatic work, in particular Frankenstein (Kampe, world premiere 2017 Deutsche Oper Berlin) and Caligari (Kreppein, world premiere 2026 Theater Coburg).