Organization

Conductor

Friedemann Layer

Stage director

Heinz Lukas-Kindermann

Set designer

Dietrich Schoras

Costume designer

Singer

Hans Günter Nöcker

Der Alte

Soprano

Martha Mödl

Mumie

Tenor

Horst Hiestermann

Der Oberst

David Knutson

Der Student Arkenholz

Gudrun Sieber

Das Fräulein

Donald Groves

Johansson

Mezzo-soprano

Barbara Scherler

Die dunkle Dame

Kaja Borris

Die Köchin beim Oberst

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Orchestra

Ensemble Modern

Others

Junge Deutsche Philharmonie

Die Gespenstersonate -  (Ghost Sonata)

Berlin

Germany

In September 1984, as part of the Berlin Festival Week, the Deutsche Oper Berlin staged the world premiere of German composer Aribert Reimann’s opera “Die Gespenstersonate”. Based on the drama by the Swedish writer August Strindberg, the chamber opera tells the story of a student, who muses about the inhabitants of a fancy-looking house. His crucial meeting with the Old Man pulls him into a world of intrigues, sickness, depression and murder. It plays in and around the presumably haunted house, which seems to drown its inhabitants in its sinister atmosphere. Better known for his operas “Lear” or “Medea”, Reimann established himself firmly as a stage composer from 1965 onwards. “Die Gespenstersonate”, being a modern chamber opera, was performed not on the great stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, but at the smaller Hebbel-Theater. Heinz Lukas-Kindermann’s stage direction sets the spectator under its gloomy spell, the exquisite cast performing the demanding score stars Hans Günter Nöcker as the “Old Man” and David Knutson as the Student, as well as well-loved Martha Mödl as the “Mummy”.

Ghost Sonata by Reimann, From (1985/1985), Directed by Heinz Lukas-Kindermann,, Conductor Friedemann Layer, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues