Techno Queen

Elizabeth I, Queen of England: a legendary figure. An entire era is named after her. The virgin queen, daughter of Henry VIII and his wife Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth, the Protestant, eternal rival of the Catholic Mary Stuart. In Techno Queen, the legendary queens come to life anew—and invite you to dance in the afterlife between Donizetti and techno. Bel canto meets beats—an electro(melo)drama.

Elizabeth I, the last ruler of the Tudor dynasty, is in a foul mood because she is stuck somewhere between this world and the next—not dead, but not truly alive either. She looks back on her unresolved past, recounting stories of betrayal, envy, and suppressed affection. She confesses her love for her mother, Anne Boleyn, but also for her father, Henry VIII, who had Anne Boleyn executed for political gain. The stigma of her illegitimate birth weighs heavily on Elizabeth. The person behind the mask of the ruler comes to life before the audience, posing questions about power and morality that concern us all. Elizabeth seeks peace with her adversary Mary Stuart, with whom she has fought a veritable boxing match, but must realize that she cannot escape her guilt even in the afterlife.

Bel canto and techno—how do they go together? Director Francesco Micheli, who can already look back on similarly successful projects in Berlin and Bergamo, sees the highly charged emotions in Donizetti’s music as the perfect counterpart to the unbridled rhythms of techno. The audience is expressly invited to dance to the techno beats.

Italian director Francesco Micheli is not only familiar with the clubs of his adopted home, Berlin, but is also involved in social projects aimed at making opera accessible to people. Most recently, he staged the opera double bill Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci at the Bayerische Staatsoper. The internationally renowned director served for many years as artistic director of the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, the composer’s hometown.

The set design is by Georgian set and costume designer Uta Bekaia, known for her magnificent and imaginative costumes, who will be working for the Bayerische Staatsoper for the first time and has also made a name for herself as a visual artist. She defines herself as a multimedia artist who revives archaic rituals through a queer lens. Residencies have taken him to Latvia, New York (MAD/Museum of Arts and Design), and his native Georgia.