Verdi’s Otello is both drama and ritual at once. Magician of the theater Robert Wilson stages the work as the latter, while Zubin Mehta conducts it as the former – in collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker, who continue their explorations of opera with the Indian master conductor.
More information: https://www.festspielhaus.de/en/events/verdi-otello
More than 14 years after its celebrated world première in Singapore, which was followed by an international tour, I La Galigo can now be seen again on the Peninsula Island of Nusa Dua, Bali. The work is based on Sureq Galigo, an epic poem from South Sulawesi about the creation of man, and features a cast of more than 50 performers and live musicians. Music by Rahayu Supanggah.
Last night, we celebrated Joe Melillo and his achievements during his 35 years as BAM’s Executive Producer. I was proud to direct a short performance entitled For Joe A Man Who, with an amazing ensemble of Lucinda Childs, Isabelle Huppert, Nonhlanhla Kheswa, Isabella Rossellini, Jeremy Irons, Chukwudi Iwuji, Carl Hancock Rux and John Turturro. Among the many other artists that composed, wrote and performed for this memorable night at the Harvey Theater were Laurie Anderson, David Lang, Mitchell Rose, Daniel Bernard Roumain and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
“THIS IS HIS THIS IS IS HIS THAT IS IS IS HIS and OURS
THIS IS HIS HIS IS THIS that IS HIS IS OURS
THIS that AND that is that is HIS THAT WILL always BE
THIS ours that will always BE OURS for NOW + FOREVER
THIS IS HIS IS MINE and YOURS OURS FOREVER
THIS IS and THAT is THAT is HIS IS OURS
THIS IS THIS THAT IS IS his IS ALL of US.”
Photographs © Richard Termine
Robert Wilson at the Max Ernst Museum, with a photo of Louis Aragon by Man Ray (c.1925) - Photograph © Lucie Jansch
“Some nearly fifty years after he first created his surrealist sensation ‘Deafman Glance,’ Robert Wilson tips his hat to his mentor Max Ernst. Wilson’s staged theatrical performances, in the words of surrealist writer Louis Aragon, are ‘what we others, who fathered surrealism, what we dreamed it might become after us, beyond us.’ No mere retrospective or remembrance, this exhibition is more of a collaboration between two of the world’s quintessential dreamers.
The theme of Wilson’s exhibition reflects his wish to infuse the museum with the spirit of Ernst and that of the Watermill Center, the artists’ community where Wilson shares his personal collection of art and artifacts with the public, and nurtures the creativity of young and emerging artists. The exhibition clearly conveys Wilsons creative processes, featuring a selection of objects that serve as the raw material from which the artist draws his inspiration in many of the same ways Max Ernst drew inspiration from his own diverse collection.
Reminiscent of great cabinets of curiosities—especially the collected artifacts of André Breton and Max Ernst—this exhibition tells us less about the objects themselves than about the great artists whose dreams were initiated by them.”
Exhibition Concept and Design: Robert Wilson - Design Collaboration: Marie de Testa - Curator: Noah Khoshbin - Lighting Design: Scott Bolman - Sound Design: Dario Felli - Registrar and Collection Consultant: Christian Clement - Max Ernst Museum Brühl: Achim Sommer, Friederike Voßkamp, Jürgen Pech
Good news to all Friends of Italian Opera: over the next 12 months, you will be able to see three of Verdi's masterpieces and one by Puccini, directed by Robert Wilson, in different European locations.
The Troubadour will première at the Verdi Festival in Parma on September 29 in the rarely performed French version (Le Trouvère), which the composer adapted in the style of a "Grand Opéra" for Parisian audiences in 1855. The performances will be conducted by Roberto Abbado. Shortly after that, on October 12, 14 and 16, Bob Wilson's beloved production of La Traviata, under the baton of Teodor Currentzis and with the MusicAeterna orchestra from Perm, will perform at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville in Luxembourg. Opening on November 30, and with performances throughout December, will be a new production of Puccini's Turandot at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Finally, Wilson will direct a new Otello for the Baden-Baden Festival next April, in which the Berlin Philharmonic will play under the baton of Daniele Gatti.
“Of all the people that I have worked with, throughout my life, both professionally and otherwise, there is one person who always stood out. Her name is Benedicte Pesle; she was a visionary, she was capable of envisioning large-scale works and thinking over long periods of time. She had the best critical eye I ever met. She was severe in her dress and taste. She had a great sense of humor. She alone was more responsible than anyone else in bringing American artists to Europe and elsewhere: Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Philip Glass, Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown, Alan Lloyd, Andy De Groat, my work, and many others. She worked for Alexander Iolas Gallery and often made selections of paintings, sculptures, and drawings for important collections. Especially for John and Dominique De Menil and other members of her family. She alone helped engineer my 24-hour long Overture at the Opéra Comique, in the first production of the Festival d’Automne and engineering the following work, the seven-day play KA Mountain and Guardenia Terrace: the story about a family and some people changing. She was a driving force behind Rolf Liebermann in commissioning a full evening with Merce Cunningham, John Cage Un Jour ou Deux with sets and costumes by Jasper Johns at the Opéra Garnier. She went with me in 1973 to ask Michel Guy to commission Philip Glass and myself to create Einstein on the Beach, a 5-hour opera. It was Glass’ first commissioned opera. She was the driving force for Michel Guy, who was the Minister of Culture, in all the projects he did in the performing and visual arts. She was always direct and modest and worked behind the scenes. Often no one knew that she had been involved. She was a great friend of the surrealists Matta, Ernst, Tinguely and Magritte. She believed very much in having cultural exchange programs between the US and France and no one accomplished more in the last half of the 20th century than she did with her cultural exchange programs. Often using her own very limited money, she would support events without any mention of her name. Of all the people that I have worked with, professionally and otherwise, I always say again; she was the wisest, she was best. There was no one like her.”
The Rundfunkchor Berlin after the last preview of LUTHER dancing with the gods, at the Pierre Boulez Saal on October 4, 2017
