PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS

In the organizer's words:

The opera begins like a mysterious fairy tale. A woman mourns the loss of her child, another comforts her: "Find a happy person in this world and cut a button from his sleeve. Do it before nightfall and your child will live. A happy person. You have until nightfall." Finding a happy person seems easy. However, one disappointing encounter follows another. Happiness is like a mask that quickly falls away when you take a closer look. Then the path leads to the threshold of a wondrous and charming garden. PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS is the new work by composer George Benjamin (*1960) and playwright Martin Crimp (*1956), who have been among the most important authors of contemporary opera internationally since the triumphant premiere of WRITTEN ON SKIN. After two large-scale works, Benjamin and Crimp return to chamber opera with their fourth joint work. PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS develops a story about human nature that is as touching as it is surprising. The result is a fine mosaic of music and narrative. The production of the world premiere at the 2023 Aix-en-Provence Festival by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma alternates between realism and dreamlike fantasy and has since delighted audiences in France and England. The co-production with the Cologne Opera can now be seen for the first time in Germany at the Staatenhaus. "PICTURE A DAY LIKE THIS deals with the most existential questions in just one hour. [...] George Benjamin's music is on point in every bar, with every note, and from the tightly scored instrumentation he creates a wealth of color that is astonishing. [...] In addition, Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma create a subtle synthesis of the arts with enchanting lighting direction and a high level of scenic density and elegance." (BR-Klassik)