Mr. Blake performs the role of Michel in what will be his German and European House debut.

JULIETTA

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ 1890-1959

Lyric opera in three acts
Libretto by Bohuslav Martinů based on Georges Neveux
First performed March 16 1938, National Theatre, Prague
Premiere of this production June 21 2015

Sung in German with German and English surtitles
Introductory talks, in German, in the Holzfoyer half an hour before performances begin

Nostalgia draws the travelling book salesman Michel back to a little port where he once fell in love with a woman he heard singing from a window. At the station, before starting to look for her, he suddenly realises that all the inhabitants have lost their memories. Her song does finally lead him to Julietta, who thinks she remembers him ... The boundaries between reality and illusion are permeable in this surreal work. Martinů's thrilling lyric opera, from 1938, leads you into a world where time seems lost, where memories are on sale, but not necessarily trustworthy. Julietta's song retuns as a Déjà-ecouté, superficial fragments of memory in which recurring dream appear and vanish again. An atmospheric sound language, influenced by Debussy, popular music of the time and Czech traditional music combined in this multi-facetted composition to produce an absurdly beautiful tone poem. Florentine Klepper brought Martinů's dream world to the stage with a feeling for the fantastic, with sometimes almost spooky, sometimes amusing moments.