Worthless. Placeless. Katharina has lost everything: the lover, the job, the apartment. In her fight against oblivion she develops extreme, hateful energies. The bustle on Münchner Freiheit serves as a stage for a fictional character who is about to exceed the normative limits of social behavior once and for all.
Katharina
an opera installation in public space by Mathis Nitschke
Libretto: Thomas Jonigk, Performer: Martina Koppelstetter,
Harpsichord recording: Goska Isphording
The travel agency – a place of longing for faraway places – is transformed through this music-theatrical performance into a zone with a sharp focus on the here and now. Using headphones you slip into Katharina’s head and occupy the aural perspective of the protagonist outside of the square. At the same time, as an object in the shop window, you become part of the installation yourself.
Musically, KATHARINA takes aspects from Henry Purcell’s opera ‘Dido & Aeneas’ and remixes them with elements from Drum’n’Bass and a harpsichord which always accompanies the development of the character: instead of dying of a broken heart like Purcell’s Dido, Katharina is transformed here into a fury.
Formally KATHARINA picks up where VIOLA left off – a production during the pasingby-Festival, 2015, which took place at the Bahnhofapotheke Pasing.
September 14-17, 2016 (10 performances) @ DER Reisebüro, Münchner Freiheit 6
KATHARINA is part of “München – dezentral”: a public art competition within the “art in public space” concept of the Cultural Office of the City of Munich.
Foto: Mathis Nitschke, Grafik: Anja Gerscher
Related Works:
KATHARINA had a predecessor on the Pasing station square: VIOLA >>
As an example of my opera work on the classical theatre stage, check HAPPY HAPPY >>
