Die Kreide im Mund des Wolfs

No, humanity is not completely powerless in the face of a culture of taking, as the powerful of this world increasingly do more blatantly all the time. The invasions and annexations of countries, whose erstwhile independence is summarily discredited as a criminal system, are not even thinly veiled any more. These despots, whether P or T, or H in the past, do what they want because they can – until someone stops them. Art can however wield a weapon, which is as fragile as it is frightening to those in power: Free Speech. In a special theatrical performance, composer Gordon Kampe takes one of the leading occupiers of our time at his word. Collected in times of peace – set to music in times of war: So Putin and his previous speeches, whose validity subsequently evaporated, because what was said was shown to be the opposite of what was meant. Kampe, the versatile composer, listens to the nuances of the present, as also evident in his children's opera, Spring doch! (Just Jump), already performed at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Together with Austrian author Dieter Sperl, who also wrote the libretto for his Donald Trump opera, he has created a collage of texts from speeches and statements by the Russian dictator, and with his music gives it the ambiguity that only then makes it possible to understand. When, for example, the rhetoric of power shamelessly speaks of international friendship, while already putting its murderous plans into action. Hypocrisy and blatant lies become the norm. Following its world premiere in Hamburg, The Chalk in the Wolf's Mouth will now be performed as part of the Ja, Mai festival in the atrium at the Brainlab head office – a piece tailor-made for a singer/performer, who like no other, uses their voice and stage presence to peer into the depths of the human soul. Georg Nigl.

Born in Zurich, Georges Delnon co-founded Atelier 20, a group for contemporary theatre and music in Bern, and has also directed at various renowned theatres. Following management positions at the Theater der Stadt Koblenz, Staatstheater Mainz and Theater Basel, which was voted Opera House of the Year in 2009 and 2010 under his guidance, he joined the Hamburg State Opera in 2015, serving here as Artistic Director until summer 2025. In this role and as a director, he has focussed here for some years now on integrating contemporary musical theatre into its programmes, as well as on multidisciplinary art forms. The Chalk in the Wolf’s Mouth is a work commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera, inspired and staged by Delnon himself. On the piece he has said: “Free speech appears to be no longer possible in today’s political competition. Conversely there are now recognisable recurring patterns, a kind of loops. Speeches are structured so concise messages remain hanging. They are staged and rehearsed! (…) For me musical theatre already emerges when we translate rhetoric into music. (…) As Dieter Sperl himself put it: If people listen differently and think about it, we’ve already achieved something. How could we, for example, indulge ourselves in all these Putin speeches for so long, without seeing through them? (…) This above all debunks the pathos. Of course, Putin’s kind of politics differs fundamentally here from the politics in democracies. We see how lonely he is, ruling his country, practically as if it was a private affair. (…) It’s not about portraying this political figure – for us it’s far more about enabling reflection on the text. Texts have an echo, a reverberation, which also requires artistic resonance spaces.”