Tora Augestad

Surrounded by posters and signs promising radical price reductions, the remaining members of the owner dynasty gather in a formerly flourishing department store for a family meeting. These people, whose sense of solidarity existed merely with regard to the bank balance, suddenly remember the happiness of past times, dream of luxury goods, countless employees and full cash registers. And as they, denying reality, descend ever deeper into reminiscences of the past, they begin to sing. They sing music that is capable like no other of expressing loss, mourning and irrationalism. They are not aware of the fact that a composer by the name of Georg Friedrich Handel once wrote it. Yet they are all the more aware that it seems to contain a wonderful promise… Christoph Marthaler and Laurence Cummings have created a Handel pasticcio for Zurich Opera House that speaks in a hilarious and deeply moving manner about hardships and hopes in the permanent sale of our present. Conductor: Laurence Cummings Director: Christoph Marthaler Stage and costume design: Anna Viebrock Lighting Martin Gebhardt Dramaturgy: Malte Ubenauf / Werner Hintze Orchestra Orchestra La Scintilla Die Chefin der Dynastie und Kaufhausdirektorin Anne Sofie von Otter Ihr verstorbener (dritter) Ehemann: Marc Bodnar Der uneheliche Sohn der Kaufhausdirektorin Raphael Clamer Eine Nichte der Kaufhausdirektorin Malin Hartelius Ein Grossneffe der Kaufhausdirektorin Christophe Dumaux Ein naher (englischsprachiger) Verwandter Graham F. Valentine Eine norwegisch-amerikanische Verwandte Tora Augestad Eine ausgewanderte Verwandte Catriona Guggenbühl Der Ehemann der ausgewanderten Verwandten Ueli Jäggi Ein verwandter Witwenimitator Jürg Kienberger Der Liquidator Bernhard Landau