Theatre of the World

'Andriessen's score is a holiday of inventiveness and the distillation of a lifetime's creativity.' (The Sunday Times on La Commedia, 2008)

Louis Andriessen, together with librettist Helmut Krausser, sketches the story of a colourful character in his new opera Theatre of the World, in which Reinbert de Leeuw also returns to Dutch National Opera with his ensemble Asko|Schönberg. The production is designed by the brothers Quay and directed by Pierre Audi. Theatre of the World has all the ingredients of a very special opera, that will have its scenic world premiere at the Holland Festival.

Theatre of the World is inspired by the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680), who was seen as the last Renaissance man; a scholar who was learned on all fronts. Kircher was an Egyptologist, a Sinologist, a mathematician, a physicist, a volcanologist, a music theoretician and a composer, among other things. One of the tasks of the Jesuits was to seek God’s presence in everything. The results were then shown visually in a ‘theatre of the world’. Kircher travels through time and space, accompanied by a twelve-year-old boy. Is the boy his pupil, himself at a young age or the devil? He crosses the river of death, sees the tower of Babel and ends up in China. The journey is supposed to help him remember everything he has ever experienced. If Kircher can remain who he is, will that be in heaven or in hell? The old, weak man wants to make his peace with God. At his graveside, his loved one Juana praises the splendour of the world.

The composer Louis Andriessen has built up a very impressive career, both in the Netherlands and abroad. His productions for Dutch National Opera have included Reconstructie (1969), De Materie (1989), ROSA, a Horse Drama (1994), Writing to Vermeer (1999) and La Commedia (2008). With some of them premiering at the Holland Festival. The libretto for Theatre of the World is by Helmut Krausser: writer, poet and playwright. He is internationally renowned as one of the best authors of the young German generation. His breakthrough came with his novel Melodien oder Nachträge zum quecksilbernen Zeitalter.

The famous ensemble Asko|Schönberg, that specialises in contemporary classical music, is conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw, who is making his return to Dutch National Opera, where he has conducted several Andriessen operas in the past. One of the main roles in Theatre of the World is sung by Cristina Zavalloni, the current ‘muse’ of Louis Andriessen, who said about her: 'I heard her for the first time in The Hague [...] and nearly fell off my chair'.

This spectacular production is designed by the brothers Quay. The identical twins are building up a mysterious and dark oeuvre of distinctive animation films, for which they invent and create everything themselves. A big exhibition of their work was held in EYE in 2014.