Chamber musical in two acts
Libretto by Aksel-Otto Bull and Gisle Kverndokk
German translation by Elisabeth Sikora
Based on Ruth Maier’s Diary: A Jewish Girl’s Life in Nazi Europe (edited by Jan Erik Vold)
In German with German and English surtitles

Premiere: February 24, 2025

Orchester der Vereinigten Bühnen Wien
Conductor: Herbert Pichler
Director: Philipp Moschitz

Ruth Maier is full of longings and dreams inspired by the vibrant cultural life in her home city, Vienna. To let off steam, she writes letters and a diary, which soon becomes an important part of her life. But it’s the 1930s, and the atrocities committed by the Nazis bring the Jewish girl’s carefree life to an abrupt end. In 1939 she manages to escape to Norway. Although she suffers mental problems, there is a ray of hope in the far north: she finds the love of her life in Gunvor, a girl the same age as her. In 1942 she is deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. Gunvor keeps her girlfriend’s diary which are later published together with the letters she received from her family in Vienna. With his musical, the Norwegian composer Gisle Kverndokk honours the memory of the "Norwegian Anne Frank", capturing not just Ruth’s boundless lust for life but also her tragic fate. Following its successful world premiere in 2023, Briefe von Ruth (Letters from Ruth) straight away won four accolades at the German Musical Theatre Awards. A moving and thought-provoking work of musical theatre.

Campus cooperation with students from the Bern University of the Arts, the Performing Center Austria and the Theaterakademie August Everding Munich