250th anniversary celebrated with new opera

Tickets go on sale tomorrow for Drottningholms Slottsteater’s grand anniversary production of The Rococo Machine, which will receive its world premiere on 7 June 2016. The newly written opera is a tribute to the unique theatre, which turns 250 years old next year. The jubilee opera has been commissioned and financed by the Friends of Drottningholms Slottsteater by way of an anniversary gift.While the full jubilee programme will be announced in March, we can already promise a production of Don Giovanni.

Drottningholms Slottsteater is one of Sweden’s great cultural treasures, and is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In its time, the theatre was a masterpiece of innovative and advanced technology, and is today the only theatre in the world that still makes full use of its original machinery and décor.

Newly written opera with a whiff of the 18^th century

The Rococo Machine is a newly written opera starring Drottningholms Slottsteater itself. The libretto is by Tuvalisa Rangström, who has hammered out the concept in the company of composer Jan Sandström and director Stina Ancker.

“The concept is a playful one, but is also profound and full of surprises,” says Mr Sandström. “The music carries a whiff of the 18^th century, but it’s a ‘pimped up’ 18^th century that contains elements of modern contemporary music.”

Gustavian special effects

The Rococo Machine is an opera in which the theatre’s fantastic machinery and original décor create the same striking special effects as during the time of King Gustav III. The drama takes place at a time when Drottningholms Slottsteater was new. It is the age of the Enlightenment, science and revolution in a world where everything is possible, where the boundaries of dream and reality seem blurred. Just like at the theatre.

“The theatre itself is the star of our show, and she will shine!” says librettist Rangström. “But it is also a collective work of art in which the crafters, stage hands and prima donnas are equally important cogs in the machinery of a performance. So these people also appear on stage.”

Don Giovanni with French star conductor

Drottningholms Slottsteater’s other major anniversary opera production is Don Giovanni, which will premiere on 13 August as star conductor Marc Minkowski and his French team take to the historical stage for the second year running. This summer’s The Marriage of Figaro, the first in their rendering of Mozart’s Da Ponte trilogy (The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte), was praised by critics and audiences alike.

Tickets for The Rococo Machine and Don Giovanni will be available online though Ticnet as of 4 December.

The Rococo Machine 7-19 June
Music: Jan Sandström
Libretto: Tuvalisa Rangström
Director: Stina Ancker Costume design: Kajsa Larsson Set design: Peter Astor Ögren
Conductor: David Stern
Cast: Loa Falkman, Elisabeth Meyer, Kerstin Avemo, Matilda Paulsson, Martin Vanberg and Johan Schinkler.
Dancers The Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra

Don Giovanni 13-27 August
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte
Director: Marc Minkowski Director: Ivan Alexandre
Set and costume design: Antoine Fontaine
Cast: Robert Gleadow, Jean-Sébastien Bou, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Krzysztof Baczyk, Ana Maria Labin, Léa Trommenschlager, Chiara Skerath
Chorus The Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra

For further information or interviews with artistic team/singers, please contact: Elin West, press Drottningholms Slottsteater, +46 733 50 26 25, elin.west@dtm.se

For further information on the 250th anniversary jubilee, please contact: Sofi Lerström, Artistic and managing director, Drottningholms Slottsteater, +46 76 773 33 31, sofi.lerström@dtm.se