Fin de partie
The only opera by one of the most important contemporary composers will be performed for the first time in Berlin on January 12, 2025: Fin de partie by György Kurtág, directed by Johannes Erath and conducted by Alexander Soddy. The opera is based on Samuel Beckett's Endgame and is the only full-length setting of his plays. Three of the four singers are making their role debuts in this extraordinary new production: Dalia Schaechter as Nell, ensemble member Stephan Rügamer as Nagg and Bo Skovhus as Clov. Laurent Naouri has already performed as Hamm with the New York Philharmonic in 2021.
Hungarian composer György Kurtág, who will be 100 years old in 2026, has been accompanied for more than half a century by Samuel Beckett's Endgame, which he saw in its first performance in Paris in 1957. In 2010, György Kurtág began composing his first opera, which premiered at La Scala in Milan in 2018. His musical language is based on Beckett's original French text, to which he opens up a fascinating, colorful sound space with his impressive vocal parts and subtle orchestration. It also echoes Samuel Beckett's fondness for the circus, amusement parks and clowning, which director Johannes Erath also traces.
Johannes Erath, who is making his directorial debut at the Staatsoper with this production, poses questions in his staging about the power relations between Beckett's characters: Who has power over whom? Who wields it and how? Beckett's final play is emotionalized by György Kurtág's music, which allows this important theater text to be perceived differently today than when it was written. The result is a subliminal, constant tension that reinforces the play's multifaceted, sometimes malicious poetry.
Following on from the premiere Fin de partie, conductor Finnegan Downie Dear, Dalia Schaechter and other singers as well as the Staatskapelle Berlin will dedicate themselves to another work by György Kurtág in the concert at the Pierre Boulez Saal on February 3: In What is the word, the entire concert hall becomes a stage for this fascinating composition with words by Samuel Beckett from 1990/91. Find out more about the concert at the Pierre Boulez Saal here.
Premiere on Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 6 p.m. | Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Further performances on January 15, 21, 24, 31 and February 2, 2025
The Staatsoper would like to thank the Friends and Sponsors of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and its main partners BMW and the Hilti Foundation for their support.