Product Overview
Mieczyslaw Wajnberg: The Passenger (Пассажирка) DVD 2018 / Opera in 2 acts with an epilogue Op. 97/ Orchestra of the Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater / Libretto: Alexander Medvedev / Conducted by Oliver Von Dohnányi
UPC 59024708873 / DUX 8387
REGION 2 PAL DVD
MADE IN POLAND
AUDIO: Dolby Digital 2.0
SUBTITLES: English, Russian, Polish
TOTAL RUNTIME: 180 minutes
English Summary:
THE PASSENGER is a historically important and artistically astounding opera by the prolific but neglected Polish–Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919–96). It’s based on the novel by Holocaust survivor Zofia Posmysz, who, during a trip to Paris fifteen years after she was liberated from Auschwitz, heard a voice that she was sure belonged to one of her old guards at the prison camp. (She was mistaken.) Her book—and Weinberg’s opera—takes the provocative stance of relating the fictionalized encounter from the guard’s point of view. Weinberg completed his opera in 1968, but it didn’t receive its stage premiere until 2010, at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. This often disturbing but thoroughly compelling video captures that production (later seen in Houston, Chicago, London and at the Lincoln Center Festival).
The Passenger (Russian: Пассажирка (Passazhirka)) is a 1968 opera by Mieczysław Weinberg to a Russian libretto by Alexander Medvedev. It was premiered by musicians of the Stanislavsky Theatre in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music on December 25, 2006, in a semi-staging conducted by Wolf Gorelik. The cast included Anastasia Bakastova as Katya, Natalia Muradimova as Marta, Natalia Vladimirskaya as Liza, Alexey Dolgov as Valter and Dmitry Kondratkov as Tadeush.
Medvedev's libretto is based on the 1959 Polish radio play Pasażerka z kabiny 45 (Passenger from Cabin Number 45) by concentration-camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. The play was rewritten in 1962 by its author as a novel, Pasażerka. Posmysz also worked with Andrzej Munk on the screenplay for his related, posthumously finished 1963 film Pasażerka. Medvedev's libretto was reworked in 2010 for the first staged performance of the opera at the Bregenzer Festspiele into German, English, Polish, Yiddish, French, Russian and Czech
Russian Summary:
«Пассажирка» (Op. 97, 1967—1968 гг.) — опера Моисея (Мечислава) Вайнбергав двух актах, восьми картинах с эпилогом на либретто Александра Медведева по одноимённой новелле Зофьи Посмыш. Вайнберг использует элементы двенадцатитоновой музыки и народной музыки. Исследователи проводят параллели с оперой Шостаковича «Леди Макбет Мценского уезда», оперой Берга «Воццек» и музыкой Бриттена
Polish Summary:
Pasażerka (ros. Пассажирка) – opera Mieczysława Weinberga, w dwóch aktach z epilogiem, do której libretto napisał Aleksander Miedwiediew na podstawie powieści Zofii Posmysz. Dzieło, choć napisane w roku 1968 miało prapremierę w Moskwie dopiero 25 grudnia 2006 roku (wersja koncertowa) oraz w Bregencji 21 lipca 2010 roku (wersja sceniczna). Premiera polska opery odbyła się w Warszawie 8 października 2010
Roles
| Katya (Катя) | soprano | Russian |
| Marta (Марта/Martha) | soprano | Polish |
| Liza (Лиза/Liese) | mezzo-soprano | German |
| Valter (Вальтер/Walter) | tenor | German |
| Tadeush (Тадеуш/Tadeusz) | baritone | Polish |
| Smaller roles: | ||
| Krystina | mezzo-soprano | Polish |
| Vlasta | mezzo-soprano | Czech |
| Hannah | contralto | Greek (identified in the piano/vocal score as a "Jewess") |
| Yvette | soprano | French |
| Alte | soprano | German |
| Bronka | contralto | Polish |
| First SS-Man | bass | German |
| Second SS-Man | bass | German |
| Third SS-Man | tenor | German |
| Another Passenger | bass | |
| Female Supervisor | spoken | German |
| Kapo | spoken | German |
| Steward | spoken | |
| Prisoners in Auschwitz, passengers and crew of the ship | ||
PRODUCERS:
Music Director: OLIVER VON DOHNÁNYI
Opera Director, Scenic & Lighting Designer THADDEUS STRASSBERGER
Costume Designer VITA TZYKUN
Chorus Master ANZHELIKA GROZINA
Choreographer NADENDA MALYGINA
CAST:
Marta NATALIA KARLIVA
Tadeusz DMITRI STARODUB
Katya OLGA TENYAKIVA
Krystyna EKATERINA NEYZHMAK
Vlasta IRINA RILIKOVSKAYA
Hannah TATIANA NIKANOROVA
Bronka ALEKSANFIRA RILIKOVA
Ivette NATALIA MOKEEVA
Old Woman LUBOV SHEVCHENKO
Liese NADEZHDA BABINTSEVA
Walter VLADIMIR CHEBERYAK
First SS Officer ALEKSEI SEMENISHCHEV
Second SS Officer VLADISLAV TROSHIN
Third SS Meer KIRILL MATVEEV
Commandant GARRY AGADZHANYAN
Orchestra of the Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater
Oliver Von Dohnányi conductor
RUSSIAN STAGE PREMIERE
