Michael's Journey Around The World

“Michaels Reise um die Erde” [Michael's Journey Around the World] is the second act of the opera “Donnerstag” [Thursday] from the seven-part opera cycle “Licht” [Light] by Karlheinz Stockhausen, a cosmic world theatre in which three protagonists set the tone: Michael as Prince of Angels who appears in human shape to lead mankind to God; Eva as Power of Love, of Life; Lucifer as fallen angel and adversary. To each of these three figures has been assigned a characterizing melody (a musical “formula”); these three formulas unfold through the musical action of the entire opera cycle.

In 2008, after performances in Vienna, Cologne, Venice and Dresden, the Ensemble Musikfabrik performed “Michaels Reise” twice at the Théâtre Bobigny in Paris at the Festival d'Automne. The production created in collaboration with Carlus Padrissa from the Catalan theatre company “La Fura dels Baus” (director), Roland Olbeter (stage) and Franc Aleu (video animation) was received with great enthusiasm by the audience, and the performance of the Ensemble Musikfabrik with their member Marco Blaauw, who acted as soloist, received great acclaim from the press and the public. The live recording of these two successful concerts is now released by WERGO as part of the edition Musikfabrik .

A production by Ensemble Musikfabrik.