WOZZECK

BADISCHES STAATSTHEATER
KARLSRUHE, GERMANY

Duration 1 hour 45 minutes

Director Maxim Didenko

Premier took place on 25 March 2023

Conductor 
Justin Brown
Dominic Limburg
Starring
Birger Radde,
Jaco Venter,
Helena Juntunen,
Cantus Juvenum Karlsruhe

Exploited and socially excluded, poor soldier Wozzeck toils to feed his partner Marie and their illegitimate child. Abused by the doctor for inhumane experiments and patronized by his captain, he gradually drifts into madness. Marie seeks consolation in the Bible and takes refuge in the arms of the handsome drum major in order to escape the crushing misery at least for a short time. Mentally unstable, Wozzeck reasoned before he proceeded to a horrible act: "Every person is an abyss, it makes you dizzy when you look down."

Georg Büchner's social drama focuses on life in the precariat. With his setting, Alban Berg created a milestone in music history that has captivated audiences for around 100 years. His revolutionary tonal language made him one of the most important opera composers of his generation. Condensed into three times five scenes, Wozzeck reveals itself as a gripping and highly topical work about social ills, which anticipates the fast cuts of modern film and develops an unbelievable pull that inevitably leads to catastrophe.

Director Maxim Didenko studied at the St. Petersburg Theater Academy and worked as an actor before staging Böll's Views of a Clown in theaters in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Omsk, Novosibirsk, London and Prague from 2010 and 2019 in Mannheim . He has received numerous awards, including the "Golden Mask", the most prestigious Russian theater award. Together with the stage and costume designer Maria Tregubova, he not only celebrates his directorial debut in the opera, but also makes the inner life of the title character tangible with his visually powerful staging.