1. Theme Concert

Science and art come together in a creative way in the themed concerts. Founded in 2010, the series is organized in close cooperation between the Bayerische Staatsoper and its innovation partner Brainlab. The evenings are dialogues between two expressions of human curiosity: on the one hand, in the form of reports from research and applied science, and on the other, with music at the pulse of its time for chamber ensembles and similar formations.

In the 2026/27 season, the Ja, Mai festival will provide the thematic and musical inspiration for this season's themed concerts. “Resistance” is the element that connects the musical theater works performed at Ja, Mai. Two of them—Gordon Kampe's mono-opera Die Kreide im Mund des Wolfs (The Chalk in the Wolf's Mouth) and Diana Syrse's chamber opera Liberty (based on an original libretto by Sofi Oksanen)—as well as the work of Munich composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann will be the focus of the three evenings at Brainlab. The music of these composers will be presented in an exemplary manner, and various disciplines from Brainlab's wide-ranging scientific network will approach the topic of resistance in expert lectures. The themed concerts, which combine art and science, are designed to appeal to both the senses and the mind.