“We want to be in your gang!” – That’s likely what Schiller’s robbers would have said to their captain Karl Moor if they had lived in the 21st century. In Ludger Vollmer’s opera for young people, Schillers Räuber, they use these exact words. The play will premiere at the Stadttheater in Hildesheim on June 25, 2022. Achim Falkenhausen takes charge of musical direction, Oliver Pauli is director and Alaz Deniz Köymen, choreographer.

 

Between subculture and the opera stage – Schillers Räuber by Ludger Vollmer

Karl and Franz Moor are two brothers who couldn’t be more different: one beautiful, the other ugly; one honest and freedom-loving, the other cunning and calculating. Conflict between the brothers is clear from the outset of drama Die Räuber by Friedrich Schiller, the inspiration for Vollmer’s opera Schillers Räuber. Vollmer takes the fundamental differences between the brothers and recontextualizes them for the 21st century, bringing together two different cultures, who meet both musically and scenically. Karl Moor, who became a  ‘robber captain’ after being rejected by his father beacause of his brothers lies, meets with his “robber-gang”, rapping and break-dancing against the elitist, classically singing company of Franz Moor. With Schillers Räuber, Vollmer is explicitly addressing young people, to whose world he is building a bridge through his opera:

Think about what people do on a daily basis today: Internet, films, games, television, fast media that take them around the world or even to Mars and back in a fraction of a second. Dramaturgy at top speed! This has an impact on the thinking and aesthetics of this generation. Ludger Vollmer

Another performance of Schillers Räuber will take place on June 26, 2022, also at the Stadttheater in Hildesheim. In recent years, new operas for children and young people have been of great importance to Schott. You can find more pieces in this repertoire area via the link below or in the “Kinder brauchen Theater”catalogue.

photo: Theaterhaus Jena, 2009