LUCREZIA / DER MOND

Together with the conductor Ustina Dubitsky and the singers of the Opera Studio, the Ukrainian director Tamara Trunova sets out in the context of the new production of the Opera Studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper to search for the synergies, parallels and differences of two brilliant short operas that take us to the core of human coexistence and social (dis)order. Carl Orff's Der Mond and Ottorino Respighi's Lucrezia initially seem quite different on a textual and musical level. Der Mond is based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, while the plot of Respighi's opera is based on a Roman tradition and several literary adaptations of this material. Nevertheless, there are certainly thematic and dramaturgical similarities in the two pieces, which were written almost simultaneously in the 1930s. In both works, characters not involved in the plot present us with the events: In Der Mond it is a narrator, in Lucrezia La Voce, a voice from the orchestra pit, who tell of a world in turmoil and the attempt to restore order and reorder conditions, respectively. In Orff's "little world theater" the moon is stolen and ends up in the underworld. It is only through Peter's intervention that it returns to the heavens, and from here it can once again shine for all. In Respighi's one-act opera, we find ourselves in ancient Rome in a time of decadence and tyranny by the Etruscan family of the Tarquinians. Lucretia, the wife of the general Collatinus, famous for her beauty and virtue, is raped by the tyrant's son Sextus Tarquinius and subsequently commits suicide. Brutus, a friend of her husband, avenges her, frees Rome from tyranny, and Rome becomes a republic. The way for a better future seems free ...

Tamara Trunova completed her direction studies in Kiev in 2008. She frequently combines creative and educational activities, at the Karpenko-Kary University, among other institutions. Since 2011, she has worked at the Left Bank Theatre in Kiev, where she has been the Chief Director since 2019. She is also a multi award-winning playwright. In 2021, she won the “Women in Arts” award in the “Women in Theatre” category. Some of her productions have toured through various European cities, appearing at the Münchner Volkstheater and Schauspielhaus Zürich, among other venues. Tamara Trunova was born in Estonia and studied oboe and conducting. In 2019, he was made Chief Conductor at the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and since 2020, he has worked regularly with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. At the Bayerische Staatsoper, he is engaged as Assistant to General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski. With Lucrezia / DerMond he makes his debut with an own production at the BSO, working for the first time with Tamara Trunova, who has already staged several operas in Ukraine, but is now a guest at the Bayerische Staatsoper for the first time.

Dr. Arnold and Emma Bahlmann, DIBAG Industriebau AG, Rolf and Caroli Dienst, Vera and Volker Doppelfeld-Stiftung, Dr. Dierk and Veronika Ernst, Monika and Karl Ertl, Christa Fassbender, Dr. Joachim Feldges, Freunde des Nationaltheaters e.V., Dietlinde and Carl-Peter Forster, Oliver and Claudia Götz, Regina Hesselberger, Stefan and Maria Holzhey, Dirk and Marlene Ippen, Christine and Marco Janezic, Dr. Hans-Dieter Koch and Silvie Katalin Varga, Christof Lamberts, LfA Förderbank Bayern, Christiane Link, The Opera Foundation, A+Olivia Rogowski, Schwarz Foundation, Dr. Martin Steinmeyer, Georg and Swantje von Werz, Oliver and Kaori Zipse.