About the Performance
Within the cross-section of a four-storey building, the minutiae and repetition of human behaviour is brought to life. No way out but death seems to be the message for the community of lonely people locked in their everyday routine - a danse macabre. Bach's music, with its eloquence and connection to the human spirit, offers a promise of redemption from the necessity of repeating, forever and ever, a mundane existence.
Each of the fifty members of the choir of the Staatsoper Stuttgart plays an individual character, building an intricate and detailed picture of day to day life. The choir is amongst the most successful in Europe and won the title of ‘Opernwelt's Opera Choir of the Year' in seven different years.
Herbert Wernicke's opera directing career included productions for Salzburg Festival, Bavarian State Opera and the Met in New York before he died tragically young in 2002. He created the visually striking production Actus tragicus by combining six sacred cantatas to form one theatrical whole.
Where God the Lord stands with us not BWV 178, Who knows how near to me my end is? BWV 27, There is no nought of soundness within my body BWV 25, Ah, how fl eeting, ah, how empty BWV 26, Watch with care lest all thy piety be hypocrisy BWV 179 and God's own time is the best of times BWV 106 also known as Actus tragicus.
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Supported by Dunard Fund