Musical Theatre | Opening

MELENCOLIA

A Show Against the Indifference of the Universe

Brigitta Muntendorf / Moritz Lobeck / Ensemble Modern

German premiere

A stage with various musical instruments and video projections. In the foreground, a person with a horn lies on the floor.

Trailer MELENCOLIA © AMA FILM GmbH | Thorsten Schütte Filmproduktion

MaerzMusik 2025 opens with ‘MELENCOLIA’, an experimental music theatre show by Brigitta Muntendorf and Moritz Lobeck. In immersive soundscapes, musicians from Ensemble Modern and the Apollo Choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden invite the audience to explore the creative and transformative power of melancholic worlds.

Experience the MELENCOLIA app

Bring the creatures from ‘MELENCOLIA’ to life through augmented reality by downloading the interactive MELENCOLIA app from Google Play or the App Store and scanning one of the QR codes displayed in the foyers of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele during your visit to the event. If several people use the app at the same time and in the same place, they can form a melancholic mobile phone chorus.

Erhältlich im Apple App Store    Jetzt bei Google Play

Taking Albrecht Dürer’s engraving ‘Melencolia I’ as its starting point, numerous figures and themes are presented on the stage of ‘MELENCOLIA’ and set in relation to one another: Muntendorf/Lobeck go in search of the liberating melancholic mood in a series of seven tableaux, encountering football stadiums and digital cemeteries of virtual “Second Life” worlds, Austrian folk songs, virtuoso instrumental music and Japanese karaoke, AI voice clones and digital guests including the Iranian ney-anbān virtuoso Saeid Shanbehzadeh.

Tailored for 14 musicians of the Ensemble Modern and accompanied by singers from the Apollo Choir, this work addresses the historical complexities of melancholy – perceived variously as an illness, as a way of overcoming earthly suffering or as the sister of genius. The puzzling polyhedron in Albrecht Dürer’s engraving has become a symbol for these contradictions amid the human desire for salvation.

‘MELENCOLIA’ combines classical performance with cutting-edge approaches at the intersection of art and technology. Set in a post-digital environment, this work of music theatre weaves together a fascinating tapestry of sound and visuals, a hybrid space between showroom and green-screen studio, between real and virtual worlds. ‘MELENCOLIA’ transcends the superficially spectacular to prompt introspection among the audience and, beyond this, to challenge the indifference of the universe. 

The work has already been recognised for its innovation by becoming the first music theatre to receive an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica. Following a guest performance at the HOLLAND Festival, ‘MELENCOLIA’ will celebrate its German premiere at MaerzMusik 2025 in cooperation with Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Cast

Brigitta Muntendorfcomposition, artistic direction, staging, dramaturgy
Moritz Lobeckstaging, dramaturgy
Veronika Simmeringvisual worlds
Sita Messerstage, costume
Begoña Garcia Navaslighting design
Matthias Riekerlight
Floris Dijkerslighting operator
David Bräuertechnical direction
Warped Type, (Andreas Huck, Roland Nebe)live video
Felix Drehersound direction
Lukas Nowokaudio programming, live electronics
Banu Sahin3D audio
Volker Bernhard – sound engineering

Saeid Shanbehzadehney-anbān (virtual soloist)

Members of the Apollo Choir of Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Ensemble Modern
Dietmar Wiesner – flute, piccolo flute, bass flute
Christian Hommel – oboe
Jaan Bossier – clarinet
Thomas Mittler – horn
Sava Stoianov – trumpet
Uwe Dierksentrombone
Ueli Wiget – piano, sampler
David Haller – percussion
Rainer Römer – percussion
Jagdish Mistry – violin
Giorgos Panagiotidis – violin
Megumi Kasakawa – viola
Eva Böcker – cello
Paul Cannon – double bass, electric bass

With texts by Robert Burton, Sigmund Freud, Jean-Philippe Toussaint and others

In cooperation with Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Commissioned by Bregenzer Festspiele and Ensemble Modern