The prestigious prize is a major stepping stone from small performances to the national stage in Germany. But some local media may have missed the point.
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The winners of the Berlin Opera prize opened their works to the public on Friday evening at St Elisabeth's (above), a neoclassical church that has been converted into a cultural center for Germany's capital. The prize represents a rare opportunity in the music world, a "stepping stone," as one winner described it, from student prizes to national recognition.
The two works selected to share this year's first prize seemed to have their fingers on the pulse of this year's seismic social shift — the #MeToo movement, and the numerous men in the media, political and business worlds who were held to account for sexual misconduct as a result.
This year's theme, "Take It Or Leave it!" challenged the teams to decide which parts of opera's 400-year history should be carried into the future.
Arianna, Ariadne, Ariane
The first, by Caitlin van der Maas and Tom Smith, was called "Arianna, Ariadne, Ariane," and drew on the mythological figure of Ariadne to tell the stories of three women, including a modern-day refugee, abandoned by men on different islands.
The world's most famous theaters and opera houses
On World Theater Day we look at some of the world's outstanding theater and opera houses. From ancient Greece's amphitheaters to Sydney Opera House's nesting arches, theaters have defined our landscapes for millennia.
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The Theater of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens
The beginnings of theater in Ancient Greece were dominated by performances of ritual songs, dances and sacrifices in honor of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and ecstasy. Greek tragedy then evolved out of these. According to Aristotle's (384-322 B.C.) theories of drama, the art form should cause the viewers to shudder and feel compassion, resulting in a cleansing effect.
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The Comedie-Francaise in Paris
17th-century French Classicism, defined by order, clarity and restraint, included authors like Pierre Corneille, Voltaire and Jean Racine. Racine's tragedy "Phedre" opened the Comedie-Francaise theater in 1680. The Parisian theater remains renowned today, especially for its performances of plays by Moliere (above), hence its nickname, "The Home of Moliere" ("La Maison de Moliere").
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The Burgtheater in Vienna
Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780) initiated the theater's creation in 1741, and the famous Burgtheater, or Austrian National Theater, opened its doors to the public in 1888. Today, the Neo-Baroque building located opposite Vienna's city hall houses one of the German-speaking world's most important theaters. The Viennese refer to their theater as "The Burg" and its ensemble as "Burg actors."
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The Semperoper in Dresden
Dresden's Semperoper was named after Gottfried Semper, who also designed Vienna's Burgtheater. The Semperoper opened in 1878 with Carl Maria von Weber's orchestral "Jubel Overture" and Goethe's tragedy "Iphigenia in Tauris." Later on, comspoer Richard Wagner premiered many of his operas in the magnificent building. The building is home to the Saxon State Orchestra and Opera.
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The Royal Opera House in London
When today's visitors enter the Royal Opera House in the London neighborhood of Covent Garden, they are stepping into the third building built to house the royal company. Fires devastated the two previous structures. German composer Georg Friedrich Handel was very active here, both as a composer and as an organist. He wrote some of his operas and oratorios especially for the Royal Opera.
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The Bolshoi Theater in Moscow
Assassination attempts, legends and fame have marked the history of Russia's most significant theater for opera and ballet, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Its huge ensemble, consisting of more than 200 female dancers, is seen as one of the world's best. Performances of Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" are particularly popular with viewers. Following restoration works, the theater reopened in 2011.
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The Teatro La Fenice in Venice
The reference to "fenice" (Italian for "phoenix") is anything but a coincidence. The name was chosen because the Venetian opera house had to be reconstructed after burning to the ground. The fiery bird, a symbol of the Enlightenment, also alludes to the Freemasons, who participated in the reconstruction. Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi premiered several of his works in the opera house.
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The Metropolitan Opera in New York
From 1880 through 1966, the Metropolitan Opera was located on Broadway. It then moved to New York City's Lincoln Square, where it remains today. The "Met," one of the world's most renowned opera houses, owes much of its fame to the numerous outstanding singers and conductors that have graced its hall, such as Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. The Met gave the first opera radio broadcast in 1910.
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Sydney Opera House
One can hardly imagine Sydney without its visually striking opera house. The unusual building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Danish architect Jorn Utzon and finished in 1973. While the unconventional design initially triggered a lot of controversy, the building become one of Australia's most important tourist attractions.
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Protheses of Autonomy
The second, a science fiction opera titled "Protheses of Autonomy," takes place in a future matriarchal society where a robot called She has been taught to perform the parts of all the great opera heroines in history and is trying "to understand what it is to be a woman and how women are perceived and expected to behave."
"We were in part influenced by the latest Blade Runner film, Black Mirror, artificial intelligence, the #MeToo movement and other feminist issues," said composer Thierry Tidrow, who won alongside director Zsofi Gereb and librettist Franziska vom Heede.
Media omissions?
While both operas received positive reviews on their artistic merits, notably from Berlin's largest radio station, rbb, Tidrow was a bit perplexed by some interesting omissions in local reporting of the event.
"At first I was pleased to see reporters from the Berliner Morgenpost at the premiere…but I was quite shocked to read their article the next day," he said, referencing Berlin's second most-read daily newspaper. "It mentions three people — the chairman of the Neuköllner Oper, the opera house we worked with, the moderator and a representative of GASAG, the company that sponsored the prize."
"Yes, they enabled the projects to be realized. But it's strange that the coverage focused on three old men when the theme of both operas was the empowerment of women, and three of the five winners were young women."
But for those who haven't missed the point — there is one more chance to see both ground-breaking operas at Berlin's St. Elisabeth Kirche on Saturday.
