Press Release (ARTE)
Television Broadcast on 10 August 2009
10:25 pm in France
and at 10:40 pm in Germany
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Michaels Reise um die Erde
(Michael’s Journey Around the World)
Wiener Taschenoper in cooperation with the Wiener Festwochen
Co-production with KölnMusik and musikFabrik
Marco Blaauw – trumpet
Nicola Jürgensen – basset horn
musikFabrik
Musical direction: Peter Rundel
Artistic Concept:
Carlos Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus)
Roland Olbeter
Franc Aleu (Urano)
Television direction: János Darvas
MICHAELs REISE, Michael’s Journey, (Part of the opera DONNERSTAG aus LICHT, THURSDAY from LIGHT) portrays Michael’s path as a trumpeter – all characters appear here as instrumentalists. It is an opera without singers! The audience is welcomed by “Donnerstags-Gruß” (Thursday’s Greeting) before the journey around the world begins in Cologne and continues on to New York, Japan, Bali, India, Central Africa and Jerusalem.
With his powerful visual staging, Carlos Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus) tells this story. Giant-sized video projections cast the impressive scenes onto an almost transparent screen, and Michael flies through them in a mobile machine. In this way an expressive visual counterpoint is created for Stockhausen’s impressive music.