Lifelong opera stan projecting my sociological and queer perspective onto what’s playing on Berlin‘s big and small classical stages.
Deutsche Oper Berlin
This opera is an excellent case study of how social conventions have evolved over the past 233 years since its first performance, when gender roles, understandings of love and marriage, and authority in general were understood vastly differently from what we have (more or less) agreed upon today.
Deutsche Oper Berlin
This production leans heavily into these tropes and paints an uncomfortable, but all too realistic picture of patriarchal sexuality and misogynist violence with rapey undertones that dominate throughout the piece.
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The main character of this opera is neither Tristan nor Isolde: it is the music. From the hints of atonality in the opening sequence, to the climactic resolution of the aforementioned chord four hours later, the music is entirely captivating and deeply moving.
Deutsche Oper Berlin
Don Giovanni tells a story not just about toxic patriarchy, but about an abuse of power displayed in the (sexual) oppression of women and working-class people at the whim of aristocratic caprice.
Deutsche Oper Berlin
With all this grand geopolitical storytelling, “Nixon in China” does not let us forget that its characters are, first and foremost, people. There‘s a lot of raw emotion and intimate personality on stage.
Staatsballett Berlin
A cohesive bundling of singers and dancers, groups and soloists, into a uniform body where all participants seem to engage at eye level with little discernible hierarchy.
Staatsoper Berlin
This is a story about what happens to a tight-knit community existing on the fringes of society when its members perceive a threatening disturbance from outside.