Fidelio

Freedom, courage, and human rights are the existential themes that form the foundation of Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, “Fidelio.” It is the story of Florestan, who has been arbitrarily imprisoned, and whose loving wife Leonore, defying all danger, disguises herself as a man to free him from prison in the role of “Fidelio.” On the way from captivity to a seemingly utopian freedom, the driving force of the music breaks down formal boundaries.

The concert performance of Fidelio is a co-production of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. With specially written text interventions, the Ukrainian-German writer Katja Petrowskaja expands the narrative of the concert opera performance. The texts by the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize winner open up urgent, current, and historical perspectives on the opera of freedom. In the performance, they are read by actor and Iffland Ring holder Jens Harzer.

Entitled “Der Menschheit Stimme” (The Voice of Humanity), a quote from Fidelio, the large participatory choir project of the UFO, the mobile venue of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, will also send a signal on September 20 at Opernplatz for the relevance of human rights, thus spanning a wide arc of sound to the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle.