Less than two weeks after the Brundibár premiere in Staatstheater Kassel, a new production of this children opera by Hans Krása was put on on another German opera scene, namely the one of Theater Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate. The piece, performed more than 55 times with the deported children in the Theresienstadt ghetto where the author eventually died, was sung by the newly established Theater Trier children choir as their very first performance. The young singers were accompanied by the Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Trier.
The specific thing about the Trier production is that Krása’s music is combined with Dream, a song cycle by American composer Diane Abdi Robertson. Dream is based on lyrical and poetic texts which the fourteen-year-old Abramek Koplowicz had written before he died in 1944 in Auschwitz. The production was created by conductor Malte Kühn and directress Heidi Sommer. Held in the morning of June 29st, the premiere was followed by two subsequent evening performances.
29 and 30 June 2017, Groβes Haus, Theater Trier, Trier, Germany
Hans Krása: Brundibár (premiere)
directed by: Heidi Sommer, music director: Malte Kühn