La Montagne Noire (Der schwarze Berg)

In the organizer's words:

Lyrical drama in four acts and five pictures by Augusta Holmès - Libretto by the composer - In French with German surtitles.

A bitter war rages between Montenegro and Turkey. The Montenegrin warriors Mirko and Aslar return victorious from the last battle. According to an ancient custom, the two swear eternal loyalty to each other until death and thus become brothers. Nothing seems to stand in the way of the final victory over the Ottoman troops, when Mirko meets the beautiful Turkish woman Yamina. He saves her from death and cannot resist her attraction. Although he is actually engaged to Héléna, he leaves her and at the same time commits high treason against Montenegro. Aslar pursues the two to restore his brother's honor ...

As a woman, Augusta Holmès had a difficult time establishing herself as a composer in Paris throughout her life. Thus, her opera La Montagne Noire quickly fell into oblivion after its premiere in 1895. Yet the work impressively demonstrates the special qualities of Holmès, who not only used an opulent late-Romantic tonal language in her music, but also wrote the libretto for her work herself. The text was not purely fictional; rather, the composer based it on real Slavic heroic songs that had been passed down to her, some of which she adopted verbatim in her libretto. The characters in the opera have real-life models, such as the title character Mirko, who is based on the historical figure of Marko
Kraljević. Marko, a young Serbian warrior who switched to the opposing side as an Ottoman vassal, is revered in Slavic folk song culture to this day.
folk song culture to this day. In this sense, the opera impressively reflects the deconstruction of history and the creation of false heroic myths.

• The performance on 10.05.2024 will take place as part of Wagner Cosmos V "Myth and Truth".

Cast:

Mirko Sergey Radchenko
Aslar Mandla Mndebele
Le Père Sava Denis Velev
Yamina Aude Extrémo
Héléna Anna Son
Dara Agnes Zwierko
Un Des Chef Ian Sidden
Un Chef Min Lee
Un Jeune Homme Yoonkwang Immanuel Kang
Guslar Player Bojana Peković

Opera Choir Theater Dortmund
Project Extra Choir
Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra

Musical direction Motonori Kobayashi
Director Emily Hehl
Stage Frank Philipp Schlößmann
Costumes Emma Sophie Hoffmann
Choreography Adriana Naldoni
Chorus Fabio Mancini
Dramaturgy Daniel Andrés Eberhard