OVER AND OVER VORBEI NICHT VORBEI

OVER AND OVER NOT OVER

A contemporary opera by Ted Hearne and Daniel Fish

What do we remember? Who and what shapes our memory? How can we remember events in which we were not involved? And what influence does memory have on the present and the future? over and over nicht vorbei uses historical-musical material as a starting point for a remix that incorporates different musical styles and practices and brings together German and English, past and present, and archival and creative recombinations.

Using fragments of songs from the American and German contexts, "over and over not over" deals with the individual and collective process of remembering and brings two cultures into a dialog about the questions: How do societies deal with violence in their past, National Socialist history in Germany and the history of slavery in the USA? And how do the next, younger generations look at the crimes of their ancestors?

In changing arrangements, juxtapositions and repetitions, the text fragments are placed in ever new relationships to one another. Connections are created which are then cut again, only to take on a different form once more. Inner images appear and disappear again. The composition by Ted Hearne, directed by Daniel Fish, unites voices from different generations: US singers Eliza Bagg and Isaiah Robinson meet Komische Oper Berlin ensemble member Tom Erik Lie and the Berlin youth choir Vokalhelden. They are accompanied by an ensemble of musicians from different musical styles from both countries, who create a score that is strongly oriented towards electronic music. The vocal lines take up popular and operatic traditions, sometimes alienated by vocal processing.

komische-oper-berlin.de

STAB
Composition, libretto and musical direction: Ted Hearne
Production: Daniel Fish
Co-direction: Mikhaela Devra Mahony
Stage and video design: Jim Findlay
Costumes: Doey Lüthi
Dramaturgy: Christina Runge
Choir: Johannes David Wolff
Lighting: Bruno Pocheron
Camera: Kathrin Krottenthaler
Artistic production management: Veronika Obermeier
Evening stage management, assistant director: Anisha Bondy

CAST
Youth choir: Vokalhelden
Soloist: Eliza Bagg
Soloist: Tom Erik Lie, Isaiah Robinson
Musicians: Solomon Dorsey / Ron Wiltrout / Rohan Chandler / Taylor Levine
Violin: Deniz Tahberer / Melinda Watzel
Viola: Johanna Kubina
Cello: Christian Tränkner
Horn: Katrin Vogel / Uwe Schmeißer
Bass clarinet: Ken Thomson
Harp: Tatjana Schütz
Celesta, Keyboard: Ted Hearne / Rohan Chandler