Hauen und Stechen – Kitesh

Season 2020/2021

Hauen und Stechen
Kitesh

Music: Alexander Chernyshkov (new composition) and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (” Die Legende von der unsichtbaren Stadt Kitesh “, 1907 / Arrangement: Roman Lemberg)
Director: Franziska Kronfoth
Dramaturgy: Maria Buzhor
Stage, costumes: Christina Schmitt
Video: Martin Mallon
Musical direction: Roman Lemberg

Team. The music theatre collective “Hauen und Stechen” was founded in 2012 by the music theatre directors Franziska Kronfoth and Julia Lwowski in Berlin. The focus of its work is the examination of works of opera literature and their translation into a new music theatre of disparate art spaces and sound worlds. The group runs a sensual, emotionally charged theatre that leaves room for improvisational impulses and seeks direct contact with the audience. Classical music repertoire is often overwritten, re-contextualized and short-circuited with elements of pop culture.

Project. Once before, in a little-known opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, the Russian legend of the sunken city of Kitesch and its bells ringing from under the water found its way into musical theatre. Together with the composer Alexander Chernyshkov, “Hauen und Stechen” subjected Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical and thematic motifs to a thorough reworking. Elements of folk music also appear, integrated into the idiom of contemporary music. Kitesh, sunken but still alive, stands for the design of a happier, better organised world, his sinking for the loss of utopia that characterizes our time. Within an immersive music theater event, which finally leads to the central stage, the audience takes on the role of the Golden Horde that Kitesh falls victim to, only to find itself together with the performers in a collective evocation of repressed utopias and dreams.

First production: Oper Halle (premiere: 18.10.2020)
Further development: Theater Bremen (Premiere: 08.07.2022)

Dates: 18.10., 24.10.2020 (Oper Halle), 07.07., 08.07. 09.07 2022 (Theater Bremen).

Due to the flood damage of summer 2021 at the Wuppertal Opera, the stage of a second development of this project was cancelled. Due to the pandemic, only two performances could be given in Halle instead of the planned three. At the same time, the further development of the project in Bremen was postponed to the following season.

Cast Halle
Anke Berndt (18.10.) / Christina Rümann (24.10.) (soprano), Martin Gerke (baritone),
Marlene Lichtenberg (mezzo-soprano), Michael Zehe (bass), Gina-Lisa Maiwald (drama),
Viola Tepe (soprano), Jacqueline Zierau (soprano) / Yifan Li (percussion), Andrej Lakisov (saxophone)
Halle Opera Choir / Student Choir “Chorespondenten” Halle / Ballet Studio Teska /
State Orchestra Halle
Choreography Ballet Studio: Teska Maria Buzhor
Dramaturgy Oper Halle: Kornelius Paede
Production management Halle Opera House: Steffi Khazhueva
Lighting: Peter Erlenkötter
Rehearsal: Peter Schedding
Stage management: Berd Bunk
Soufflage: Anke Hoheisel / Regina Karpinski
Assistant directors: Chang Tang, Konstantin Züllich
Set design assistance: Charlotta Hench
Assistant stage designer: Therese Mieth
Assistant set designer: Oper Halle Yaroslava Sydorenko
Dramaturgy internship: Friederike Brendler