PARADISE RELOADED (LILITH)

The world premiere of the opera Die Tragödie des Teufels (The Tragedy of the Devil) took place in 2010 in Munich. The libretto was written by the young German playwright Albert Ostermaier. Following the premiere, Péter Eötvös decided to make some revisions to the opera, and the resultant piece was given the title Paradise Reloaded. This is effectively a new work in its own right. It follows the plot of the original piece, but there are some key points where the new material completes or even reconsiders the original plot. For example, in the original play the main protagonist is Lucifer, but for Paradise Reloaded the spotlight falls on to a different character – this is Lilith, who was the first wife of Adam. So in the new piece, Peter Eötvös explores a hypothetical question: what would have happened if our culture – which is explicitly based on the Bible – had chosen Lilith to be the ancestress of mankind, instead of Eve?

In the first scene Lilith is being expelled from Paradise and forced to live in the desert as a demon mother. She returns to bear a child to Adam – this newborn can free her from her demonic exile. However, Adam’s second wife Eve thwarts Lilith and the conflict between the two women forms the drama of this new piece. Lilith was created by God in the same way as Adam; they were equal – whereas Eve was created from Adam’s rib. Lilith represents free will, power and conspiracy, while Eve stands for femininity, purity and self-sacrifice.

The structure of the opera is similar to The Tragedy of Man by Imre Madách, in which the human couple are cast out from Paradise and guided by Lucifer through the past, present and future. In Paradise Reloaded, Lilith’s intentions define the course of events; she eventually attains her goal but at the end of the story Adam still does not choose her as his partner.

In this piece, Adam is not choosing between life and death but rather between two women who have different outlooks on life. His choice determines the fate of the generations to come. The conclusion promises a new beginning for all characters – hence the Reloaded in the title – in a new Paradise, but this will no longer be the same as the one they left.

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Composer, conductor and teacher: the Hungarian Péter Eötvös combines all three functions in one very high-profile career. Born in Transylvania in 1944, he has long been considered one of the most significant and influential personalities on the music scene as both an internationally recognized conductor and a composer of successful operas, orchestral works and concertos, written for well-known artists from all over the world. He has got commissions from Salzburg Festival, New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and other big orchestras and festivals. He composed 12 operas (e.g. Three Sisters, Le Balcon, Angels in America, Love and other Demons, Golden Dragon, Senza sangue).

He established his International Eötvös Institute in 1991 and the Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation in 2004 in Budapest for young composers and conductors. Péter Eötvös is regularly re-invited as guest conductor by the most important orchestras and opera houses all over the world.

He is member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, Széchenyi Academy of Art in Budapest, Sächsische Akademie der Künste in Dresden, Royal Swedish Academy of Music Stockholm, Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium and Honorary Academician at Santa Cecilia, Roma.

He was awarded many prizes, e.g. Commandeur l’Ordre des l’Arts et des Lettres in 1988, Kossuth Prize in 2002, Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award in 2002, Frankfurter Musikpreis in 2007, Golden Lion Award for Lifetime achievement in 2011, The Order of Saint Stephen – the highest medal awarded by Hungary in 2015.

eotvospeter.com


Albert Ostermaier was born in Munich in the year 1967 where he lives also today as a free author. In 1995 his first lyric-book Herz Vers Sagen was published, which was distinguished with the lyric award PEN Liechtenstein. In the same year was the debut performance of the play Zwischen zwei Feuern – Tollertopographie at the Marstall Theatre Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich. Since this time, Albert Ostermaier is known as one of the main dramatists.

In rapid succession there were world premieres of his plays at the Nationaltheater in Mannheim, at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel München, at the Wiener Burgtheater and at Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg. A lot of reputable directors performed his plays, like Andrea Breth, Lars Ole Walburg and Martin Kusej. In 2015 the world premiere of Gemetzel was performed at the Nibelungenfestspiele in Worms. He also wrote Mois non plus, a play about Serge Gainsbourg, a coproduction of the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen together with the Theatre in Oberhausen. In July 2016 the Nibelungenfestspiele will be inaugurated with his new play Gold – Der Film der Nibelungen.

In addition to numerous lyric books, he wrote his first novel Zephyr in 2008 and Schwarze Sonne scheine in 2011 which was also published as audio book and awarded with the Price of Gramophone Record. Actually his new lyric book Ausser mir and his new novel Lenz im Libanon was published by Suhrkamp.

Albert Ostermaier is decorated with a multitude of reputable prices, named here the Kleist-Preis, the Bertolt- Brecht-Preis and in the year 2011 the “Welt”-Literaturpreis for his literary work. Above all he is goalkeeper in the German national football author team and trustee at the DFB-cultural foundation. Albert Ostermaier was writer- in-residence at the university of New York City and associate professor at a few universities of Germany over the past years.

albert-ostermaier.com


Hailed as a “young titan” by the Montreal Gazette after conducting the Montreal Symphony in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, Gregory Vajda has fast become one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene. After completing his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony in 2005, Gregory Vajda served as Resident Conductor of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra until 2012. He was appointed Artistic and Music Director of Music in the Mountains, Nevada City, California, in 2009 — only the second conductor to hold that position in the festival’s 28-year history. He was named Principal Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2012; after the completion of his tenure he was named Principal Guest Conductor. Gregory Vajda has been Music Director and Conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra since the 2011-12 season. He is also the Artistic Director of the International Armel Opera Festival and an accomplished composer.

gregoryvajda.com


The mezzo-soprano Annette Schönmüller has in recent years established herself as one of the most versatile singer-performers in the field of contemporary music. This is shown by her numerous international premieres as well as her personal collaboration with well-known composers of today, some of whom write works specifically for her voice.

Annette Schönmüller has sung at Theater an der Wien (Peter Maxwell Davies’s Monodrama The Medium), Frankfurt Opera (including Rolf Riehm’s Sirens), Berliner Konzerthaus (Geesche Gottfried in Adriana Hölszky’s Bremer Freiheit and Harakiri by Péter Eötvös), the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (in Henze’s L’Upupa), the Staatstheater Darmstadt (the alto solo in Luigi Nono’s Prometeo), the Biennale Salzburg (in Sciarrino’s Infinito nero), the Neuen Oper Wien (Mescalina in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre), the Ostrava New Music Festival, the Musikbiennale Zagreb, and also in 2016 at the Münchener Biennale for contemporary music-theatre (alto solo in Sweat of the Sun by David Fennessy).

Annette Schönmüller received her musical training at the University of Music in Vienna, where before studying singing (under Colleen Rae Holmes) she successfully completed studies in organ and music pedagogy/conducting, and meanwhile worked intensively with Early Music. Her artistic repertoire thus includes roles from Monteverdi (Ottavia, Messaggiera), as well as Judit (Bartók), Lucretia (Britten), Geschwitz and Marie in Wozzeck.

schoenmueller.at


Soprano Rebecca Nelsen grew up in Texas and has built a substantial career in Europe from her new home town of Vienna. She has performed at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Oper Köln, Essen (Aalto- Theater), Venice’s La Fenice, Angers Nantes Opéra and the Vienna Volksoper, while her festival engagements have included Salzburg, Glyndebourne and Garsington, where her performance in Die Entfühurung aus dem Serail led Opera magazine to praise her as “an assured Konstanze, vibrant in her middle register, with brilliant top notes and an alluring physical presence”.

Rebecca Nelsen’s repertoire embraces roles such as: Violetta (La traviata); both Konstanze and Blonde (Die Entfühurung aus dem Serail); Pamina (Die Zauberflöte); Despina (Così fan tutte); Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro); Fiorilla (Il turco in Italia); Marzelline (Fidelio); Gretel (<ihänsel und="" gretel<="" i="">); Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier); The Daughter (Cardillac); Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann); Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and Adele (Die Fledermaus). The leading role of Corilla Sartinecchi in Donizetti’s rarely-seen comedy Viva la Mamma brought collaboration with Rolando Villazón in his new production of at the Vienna Volksoper in early 2015.

On the concert stage, recent seasons have included Carmina Burana with the Cleveland Orchestra and a performance with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Ensemble Intercontemporain under Péter Eötvös, whose opera Paradise Reloaded (Lilith) was premiered at the Neue Oper Wien in 2013 with Ms Nelsen in the role of Eva. The Kurier reported that “Rebecca Nelsen sings Eva with a soprano of the utmost purity, from the highest to the lowest extremities”.

rebeccanelsen.eu


The international press took notice of young German tenor Eric Stoklossa after his much admired portrayal of Aljeja in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the Vienna Festival in 2007, directed by Patrice Chereau and conducted by Pierre Boulez. With this production, he made his debut at the Holland Festival and at the Aix-en- Provence Festival in 2007, the Teatro Massimo Palermo in 2008, and at the Metropolitan Opera in 2009.

He made his La Scala debut in January 2009 in the role of Janek in Janáček’s The Makropoulos Case and returned the following year to revive Patrice Chereau’s production of From the House of the Dead. His first portrayal of Andres in Wozzeck at the Vienna Festival in the spring of 2010 became another milestone in his career.

Eric Stoklossa is a highly desired concert singer, and has performed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Dennis Russel Davis in Linz, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Helmuth Rilling, Haydn’s Creation, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Gothart Stier, and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Paris, Rouen, and at the Feldkirch Festival in Austria. His work with conductors such as Hans Christoph Rademann, Harmut Hänchen, Dennis Russell Davies, Salvator Mas-Conde, Rolf Beck, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Laurence Equilbey, Christoph Pregardien, Vaclav Luks and Helmut Rilling attests the great stylistic versatility of his repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi and Bach to the great oratorios of the Romantic and Modern era, encompassing rarities such as Alfonso in Hasse’s La Sorella amante, Mozart in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri, The Butler in Gottfried von Einem’s Der Besuch der alten Dame, just to name a few.

ericstoklossa.de


"Holger Falk is in any case one of the most mentally and vocally flexible singers on the German stage", wrote the magazine Opernwelt. His flexibility, colour, and immediacy of expression have made Holger Falk one of the most internationally sought-after interpreters of contemporary music-theatre. He has premiered music-theatre by Péter Eötvös (Paradise Reloaded and The Golden Dragon), Beat Furrer, Georges Aperghis, Michael Wertmüller, Benoit Mernier, Miroslav Srnka, Vladimir Tarnopolski, Jan Müller-Wieland, and Steffen Schleiermacher, and has also sung numerous classical roles, from Monteverdi’s Orfeo to Wolfgang Rihm’s large-scale operas. He has sung by invitation in opera houses such as Teatro Real Madrid, the Bavarian State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, Theater an der Wien, the National Opera in Warsaw, and Frankfurt Opera.

He is a guest in many concert halls and festivals, such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Old Frankfurt Opera, the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and the Schwetzinger Festspiele. He collaborates with Baroque music ensembles such as Elyma in Genève, Elbipolis in Hamburg, and Concerto in Cologne, and also with ensembles for contemporary music such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Resonanz, Ensemble Avantgarde and Musikfabrik NRW. Holger Falk’s extensive discography (MDG) includes the complete recording of all 115 mélodies for male voice by Francis Poulenc and the mélodies and chansons by Erik Satie and recordings of song cycles by Wolfgang Rihm and Josef Matthias Hauer.

holgerfalk.de


Hungarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra

The predecessor to the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1943 by Ernő Dohnányi with thirty musicians, then in 1945 was regrouped by János Ferencsik as an ensemble of fifty. Over the years the orchestra has been directed by such famous conductors as Tibor Polgár, László Somogyi, Tamás Bródy, György Lehel, András Ligeti, Tamás Vásáry, László Kovács, Ádám Fischer, Stephen D’Agostino and Gergely Vajda. János Kovács has been chief conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra since August 2014, and permanent conductor since October 2015.

The orchestra has achieved its status among the vanguard of large orchestras through countless concerts in Hungary and abroad, and radio, TV, and CD recordings of almost the entire symphonic and oratorio repertoire. It participates regularly in the finals of international music competitions and gala concerts, and takes the leading role in the annual “Wagner in Budapest” festival. Leading world critics are unanimous in their praise for the orchestra’s balanced sound, its flexibility, and the work it does in disseminating and recording Hungarian contemporary music.

Having existed more than half a century, it has had such famous guest conductors as Claudio Abbado, John Barbirolli, Paul Capolongo, Antal Doráti, Péter Eötvös, Lamberto Gardelli, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, István Kertész, Otto Klemperer, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Igor Markevitch, Lovro von Matacic, Neville Marriner, Charles Münch, Giuseppe Patané, Karl Richter, Helmuth Rilling, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Paul Sacher, Péter Schreier, György Solti, Leopold Stokowski, and Carlo Zecchi.

mrze.hu

 

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On behalf of BMC Records, we hereby would like to express our deepest gratitude and acknowledgment to MD Walter Kobéra, Intendant of Neue Oper Wien, for his efforts to make the performance of the opera possible, both in Vienna and in Budapest, and for his contribution as conductor in the musical preparation.