A tower block in summer and the water isn’t running. In the opera The Arabian Night by Christian Jost, the residents meet each other in their search for water, escaping their self-inflicted isolation. The first performance of the chamber opera The Arabian Night at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin will take place on 14 April 2022. Phlipp Armbruster will conduct the work, based on the play of the same name by Roland Schimmelpfennig, with original staging by Marcin Łakomicki.
Searching for water in The Arabian Night by Christian Jost
It’s a hot, muggy summer evening and housekeeper Lomeier goes up to the higher floors to investigate why the water supply has run dry. He meets Fatima, the roommate of Franziska. When Franziska is awake she forgets everything about her life and herself, so she spends her time sleeping and living mainly within her dream. This particular night, her dream depicts an Arabian night in summer. Fatima’s boyfriend Kalil and neighbour Karpati come to the apartment, as it appears Franziska is the only one left with water. The plot develops as the lives and the fates of the protagonists overlap. Franziska is cursed in her dream tonight and real life becomes a nightmare.
“The figures, each of which offers a high level of identification, were interwoven in such a way that they can indulge in their own dreams or nightmares in the musical flow.” Christian Jost
Further performances of The Arabian Night on the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin take place on 17, 19 and 21 April, each at 8 pm. The opera will be performed in its original German language version. An English version is also available for performances.
- Christian Jost: Composer profile
- The Arabian Night: Work details and online score
- The Arabian Night at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin
- Event series LINDEN21 at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin
photo: Hochschule für Musik und Theater München 2016 © Thomas Dashuber
