Composition Commission issued to Lucia Ronchetti Comic Opera “Mitternachtsabitur”

Nationaltheater Mannheim, Germany 

As part of its series of debut performances Nationaltheater Mannheim will, with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, be issuing a composition commission to Lucia Ronchetti for a piece of music theater with the working title “Mitternachtsabitur“ (after the German title of a novel by Ermanno Cavazzoni who is also writing the libretto). The aim of this undertaking is to develop and premiere a comic opera. 
Lucia Ronchetti uses various music theatrical forms, including choral operas for ensembles with amateur choirs inspired by the Italian folk tradition of the procession as well as music theatrical experiments without a stage based on acoustic identity or on the theatricalization of instrumental performance. Her new comic opera will be for a line-up of five solo singers (counter tenor, bass/baritone, tenor, soprano, child voices), one actress, a group of mime artists and a mixed choir. Ermanno Cavazzoni, librettist of the opera, is one of Italy’s foremost authors. His first novel "Il poema dei lunatici" already impressed Federico Fellini so much that he made it into his film "The Voice of the Moon". "Mitternachtsabitur" presents the torture of a young man driven by anxiety to insomnia which is set in the topos of an angst-ridden school scenario. This is a fantastical opera about the world of learning drawing to an end, about examinations and the lack of concentration, about troubles and being troubled, about strange nightmares and anxieties and not least about people who move on the peripheries of a city. 

Spring 2015 
Nationaltheater Mannheim, Germany 

Further Information: 
www.nationaltheater-mannheim.de