Lulu

Opera in two acts
based on the tragedies Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora by Frank Wedekind
arranged by the composer
in German language with surtitles

Premiere: May 27, 2023

ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna
Musical direction: Maxime Pascal
Concept and direction: Marlene Monteiro Freitas

Alban Berg’s unfinished opera after Frank Wedekind’s tragedies Erdgeist (Earth Spirit, 1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box, 1902) was first performed in 1937. Introduced as “the true animal, the wild, beautiful animal”, Lulu accompanies the rise and fall of her lovers and husbands until she is murdered by Jack the Ripper.
Portrayed as both a femme fatale and a femme fragile, the titular heroine appears as the portrait that is painted of her by others. Is Lulu the victim of a juggernaut of masculine oppression and bourgeois hypocrisy, or is she herself a monstrous juggernaut of seduction?
Following her invitation to stage Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire at the Wiener Festwochen in 2021, the choreographer and dancer Marlene Monteiro Freitas, born in Cape Verde, finds an inspirational accomplice in Lulu. Together with the French conductor Maxime Pascal, a passionate advocate of the modern, she has chosen an open-ended form for the unfinished third act which is supplemented by parts of Berg’s Lulu suite.

A joint project of Wiener Festwochen and Theater an der Wien