Unsuk Chin: Dark Side of the Moon opera premiere in Hamburg
The Hamburg State Opera presents the world premiere on 8 May of Unsuk Chin’s second opera, Dark Side of the Moon, staged by the theatre collective Dead Centre. The new stagework explores a dangerous Faustian alliance between quantum physics, psychoanalysis and diabolical forces.
Unsuk Chin’s second opera, Die dunkle Seite des Mondes (Dark Side of the Moon), receives its world premiere at the Hamburg State Opera on 8 May with a run of five performances. Kent Nagano, who has championed Chin’s music across 25 years, conducts a cast including Thomas Lehman, Bo Skovhus and Siobhan Stagg, with the production staged by the Irish-based theatre collective Dead Centre.
The new opera follows the success of Chin’s first opera, Alice in Wonderland, staged at the Bavarian State Opera in 2007, conducted by Kent Nagano and directed by Achim Freyer. Further performances followed in Geneva, Bielefeld, Saint Louis, Los Angeles, London and Amsterdam with a concert performance planned in Pittsburgh this May.
Unsuk Chin drew inspiration for her second opera from the life and work of the legendary physicist Wolfgang Pauli and his relationship with the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, providing Faustian material for the 21st century. This extends the psychoanalytical slant Chin took in Alice in Wonderland, while her own libretto for Dark Side of the Moon also references her interest in physics and cosmology.
Dr. Kieron is a brilliant scientist, respected and feared by his colleagues. But what nobody suspects is that every night he is haunted in his dreams by three recurring beings, enigmatic numbers and mysterious symbols, which he experiences with unbearably intense feelings. It is from these apparitions that he receives his scientific visions - the fundamental basis of his success. He also leads a double life. A highly respected scientist by day, he dives into the shady underworld at night in a restless search for human happiness. But his control over himself is slipping away. In order to satisfy his irrepressible urge for scientific knowledge and an emotionally fulfilling life, Kieron wants to have his dreams analysed and enters into an alliance with the diabolical master Astaroth, with fatal consequences.
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Chin events over coming months include her curation of three major festivals: the Tongyeong International Music Festival in South Korea (28 March - 6 April), the Weiwuying International Festival in Taiwan (11-20 April) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Seoul Festival including performances of her own Gougalon and Clarinet Concerto (3-8 June). Her music continues to travel internationally with performances of her Beethoven-inspired concert opener subito con forza this spring in Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, the UK, the USA, Japan and Singapore. In April Operascope, exploring the history of opera in orchestral terms, receives its South American premiere in São Paulo and her pulsar-inspired Alaraph gains its first Canadian performance in Toronto.
> Further information on Work: Die dunkle Seite des Mondes
Photo: Priska Ketterer