Composer Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Passenger blends traumatic memories, guilt and redemption in a spectacular production that contrasts the luxurious deck of an ocean liner with the harrowing horror of a concentration camp. This gripping production is directed by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and David Pountney, and features an extraordinary cast of singers including Amanda Majeski and Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilvie.
Based on the novel of the same name and the autobiographical account by Zofia Posmysz, a Polish writer and Auschwitz survivor, this devastating psychological thriller begins with the encounter, on a cruise ship bound for Brazil, between two women who experienced Auschwitz from different perspectives: one as a guard, and the other as a prisoner.
Melodramma in two acts
Music by Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996)
Libretto by Alexander Medvedev, based on the novel of the same name (1962) by Zofia Posmysz
Premiere in a semi-staged version at the Moscow International Auditorium on 25 December 2006 and in a staged version at the Bregenz Festival on 21 July 2010.
Premiere in Spain
New production of the Teatro Real, in co-production with Bregenz Festival, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw and English National Opera
In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of Gerard Mortier (1943-2014)
Artistic team
Conductor | Mirga Gražinytè-Tyla
Stage director | David Pountney
Set design | Johan Engels
Costumes | Marie-Jeanne Lecca
Lighting | Fabrice Kebour
Chorus master | José Luis Basso
Cast
Marta | Amanda Majeski
Tadeusz | Gyula Orendt
Katja | Anna Gorbachyova-Ogilvie
Krzystina | Lidia Vinyes-Curtis
Vlasta | Marta Fontanals-Simmons
Hannah | Nadezhda Karyazina
Ivette | Olivia Doray
Alte | Helen Field
Bronka | Liuba Sokolova
Lisa | Daveda Karanas
Walter | Nikolai Schukoff
Älterer Passagier / Steward / Kommandant | Graeme Danby
Oberaufseherin / Kapo | Géraldine Dulex
Agents of the SS | Hrólfur Sæmundsson, Marcell Bakonyi, Albert Casals
Teatro Real Chorus and Orchestra