Peter Grimes

In the organizer's words:

Production: Sabine Hartmannshenn
Stage design and costumes: Wolfgang Gussmann
Lighting: Hans Toelstede

When mistrust and rumors start doing the rounds in a village, it's hard to fight them. Peter Grimes, a fisherman, has to experience this as well. He is said to be responsible for the death of his apprentice. In the course of the opera, the misfortunes pile up. For the villagers, only the question of guilt remains in the foreground - for the opera's audience, the realization of what collective exclusion can do.
"When I wrote 'Peter Grimes,' I was concerned with giving expression to my knowledge of the eternal struggle of the men and women who wrested their lives, their livelihoods, from the sea," the composer said in describing his subject. The sea is not only a central theme of Benjamin Britten's composition, but also Grimes' last desperate refuge...
Sabine Hartmannshenn's production focuses on the opposition between the individual and the masses. The opera choir stands impressively as a powerful society next to the excluded Grimes and is one of the main protagonists of the work - stage design and lighting reflect the inner conflict of the fisherman.