Wednesday from Light

On the occasion of the new directorship, Deutsche Oper Berlin is venturing to show a project that crashes through boundaries and opens up new spaces: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht will be shown as a scenic opera production in the German-speaking world for the first time. Stockhausen, visionary of sound, crafted nothing less than a cosmic theatrum mundi about man and woman, good and evil, birth and death with his monumental cycle LICHT. Die sieben Tage der Woche. While other portions of the cycle centre around the struggle between competing forces, the polarity of which reshapes our lives every day, Mittwoch celebrates the utopia of love and the spiritual connection in the spirit of music, as well as the belief that community and solidarity are possible. Stockhausen was uncompromising in his search for a new type of music; he is considered one of the most innovative and yet most controversial composers of the 20th century. A pioneer of electronic music, he also inspired pop music across all genres, including Kraftwerk and Björk. The spectacular centrepiece of Mittwoch aus Licht is the helicopter string quartet, in which Stockhausen expands the musical space beyond the theatre itself: The members of a string quartet sit in four helicopters circling high above the audience. Sounds of strings meld with the helicopter blades, floating down to the audience from above. For our production, the quartet will be performed live as a one-of-a-kind event for the whole city, with film recordings of the quartet becoming part of the production. Award-winning duo Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg, who caused a sensation with Einstein on the Beach at Theater Basel and Parsifal at Opera Antwerpen, will transform their first opera production in Berlin into an immersive ritual. Maxime Pascal, Principal Guest Conductor under the new directorship, is an expert and passionate connoisseur of Stockhausen and has performed every piece of the LICHT cycle except for Mittwoch.

Artists/Collaborators: Susanne Kennedy (Regie), Maxime Pascal (Musikalische Leitung), Jeremy Bines (Dirigent «Weltparlament»), Susanne Kennedy (Konzeption), Markus Selg (Konzeption), Markus Selg (Bühnenbild und Video), Andra Dumitrascu (Kostüme), Marcel Weber/MFO (Licht), Florent Derex (Sounddesign), Warja Rybakova (Video), Beate Breidenbach (Dramaturgie), Robin Adams (Operator), Tarren Johnson (Performer), Marie Groothof (Performer), Dominic Santia (Performer), Ixchel Mendoza Hernández (Performer), Laurie Young (Performer), Jörg Schörner (Der Hausmeister), Le Balcon (Chöre), Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Chöre), Le Balcon (Musiker*innen), Julien Abbes (Orchester Finalisten), Mathieu Adam (Orchester Finalisten), Charlotte Bletton (Orchester Finalisten), Henri Deléger (Orchester Finalisten), Kévin Garçon (Orchester Finalisten), Ye Chang Jung (Orchester Finalisten), Clotilde Lacroix (Orchester Finalisten), Joël Lasry (Orchester Finalisten), Maxime Morel (Orchester Finalisten), Michelle Ross (Orchester Finalisten), Gregoire Simon (Orchester Finalisten), Mathieu Adam (Orchester Michaelion), Julie Brunet-Jailly (Orchester Michaelion), Henri Deléger (Orchester Michaelion), Mélanie Haas (Orchester Michaelion), Anna Matz (Streichquartett aus dem Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin), Monia Rizkallah (Streichquartett aus dem Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin), Kirsikka de Leval Jezierski (Streichquartett aus dem Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin), Arne-Christian Pelz (Streichquartett aus dem Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin)

75 minutes before the performance in the Rang Foyer on the right

Next date:

• Date Saturday, 19/September/2026 17:00 ( 4 more dates )
• Venue Deutsche Oper Berlin
• Address Bismarckstraße 35, 10627 Berlin-Charlottenburg