An Opera by Gioachino Rossini
In Italian with German supertitles

A production of the Voice and Opera programme in collaboration with the Symphony Orchestra of the UdK Berlin and the Costume Design and Stage Design programmes

No progress is being made. Everyone who had hoped to be at the coronation of King Charles X in Reims is sitting tight. A Russian, a Polish woman, a German, Italians, French people, also a woman from Tirol, an Englishman and a Spaniard. People from half of Europe are stranded in the “Golden Lily” hotel, somewhere in the French provinces. It is no use asking anymore. There are no more horses. There will not be any more either. The planned trip to Reims will never take place. And instead of together paying homage to the French king, the people of Europe get into arguments and lose their way in hysterical outbursts, personal neuroses, unsustainable erotic affairs, and fundamental differences of opinion. Finally, they do then celebrate the coronation in a very bizarre fashion: with the national anthems of their home countries.

What Gioachino Rossini and his librettist Giuseppe Luigi Balloco have created in such a fascinating way in their “staged cantata”, which premiered in 1825 on the occasion of the coronation of Charles X, is both a grotesque and an anticipation of the theatre of the absurd of the 20th century. It plays on the realities of its time. And yet, in a surprising way, it also touches on those of ours. Without telling an actual story, the authors make the logjam of people and mentalities in Europe their theme. And they find no way out, no solution.

In “Il viaggio a Reims”, Rossini's compositional style, consisting of noble vocal lines, sophisticated ensembles, breathtaking crescendi, and the accelerations in tempo –that, since the “Barber of Seville”, made him the star composer of his time – attains its pinnacle in an ensemble for fourteen soloists. Fast-paced musical theatre as an expression of an immobile time.

Conductor: Errico Fresis
Director: Frank Hilbrich
Stage Design: Jezi Tay
Costume Design: Nuria Heyck and Anna Philippa Müller

With Stelina Apostolopoulou / Natalia Labourdette, Ksenia Chubunova / Anna Schors, Hyelim Jo / Mengqi Zhang, Victoria Cox Casanova / EunJi Oh, Daniel Arnaldos / Alexander Fedorov, SeungYeop Lee / Linard Vrielink, HyunMin Kim / YooHan Lee, Taejong Kim / Israel Martins, Matwej Korshun / Daniel Nicholson, Jonas Böhm / Ren Fukase, Christoph Brunner / Emmanuel Papadopoulos, KyoungLoul Kim / Gregor Novak, Marie Sofie Jacob / SoobHin Kim, Aiko Bormann / Katharina Held, YeHui Jeong / Yixuan Zhu, William Frost / Carlo Nevio Wilfart, vocal ensemble and the Symphony Orchestra of the UdK Berlin

Premieres on 06. and 07.07.17
Additional performances on 08.* and the 09.07.17*
All performances at 19.30
UNI.T - Theatre of the UdK Berlin, Fasanenstr. 1 B, 10623 Berlin

* live stream at www.livestream.udk-berlin.de

Admission: 10 euros, 5 euros reduced price
To pre-order write to udkkasse@udk-berlin.de or call (030) 3185 2374 (answering machine)
Online ticket sales (plus pre-sale and system fee): www.reservix.de

At this matinee, you will have the opportunity to gain insight into the production in the presence of the production team. Musical selections from Rossini's oeuvre frame the event. After the matinee, you can enjoy Rossini-inspired cuisine at Joseph's. 

02.07.17, 11.00
UdK Berlin, Probensaal (Rehearsal Hall), Bundesallee 1-12, 10719 Berlin 

Admission: free