Sun, May 28, 2023, 6.00 pm - 8.00 pm | Main Stage Premiere

Salvatore Sciarrino

Venere e Adone

In Italian language with gerrman and english surtitles | Introduction at 5.20 pm

Sounds from the silence. They come closer, move and dissolve into darkness. Their nature is being and non-being, coming into being and passing away - the same as all living beings in the eternal illusion of life and death. They are sounds as they surround people, a music close to nature. They tell of mythical figures: Venus and Mars, who once begat Cupid. Cupid, who is now to avenge his betrayed father. The beautiful Adonis, whose love for Venus is his undoing. And above all: the monster who knows no affection, no love, no hate, least of all himself. It waits, unknown and deadly, maltreated by the voices of the world. An ancient story winds through the thicket of mythological entanglements and finds new paths. Who will triumph, love or death?

Musical direction: Kent Nagano
Production: Georges Delnon
Dramaturgy: Klaus-Peter Kehr

World premiere