Die Ameise

Singing teacher Salvatore is in the dock, suspected of having killed his student Formica (Latin for »ant«). Although nothing concrete can be proven on the basis of the witness statements, Salvatore is sentenced to prison. Salvatore was obsessed with Formica, regarding her as his own work of art. When she wanted to leave him in order to develop as an independent singer, he was unable to cope. Whether he actually killed her, however, remains an open question.

In prison, Salvatore suffers from delusions. He now sees his student as an ant, which he keeps in a box, and tries to teach it to sing. When he is suddenly released from jail, a real disaster occurs …

DIE AMEISE is a surreal work that switches between farce, crime thriller, tragedy and satire. The protagonist’s mental state is dissected as if in an anatomical theatre. The changes in register are supported both musically and in terms of location – from a bizarre, Kafkaesque court case to a lyrical memory space with old-sounding, quasi-baroque arias; from a vulgar slapstick comedy in prison to a burlesque show in a Viennese coffee house where the tragic finale unfolds.

The composer and pianist Peter Ronnefeld, who died far too young at the age of 30, was predicted to have an international career. After his engagement as conductor in Bonn, he became West Germany’s youngest general music director when he took up that post in Kiel at the age of 26. His opera, which premiered in Düsseldorf in 1961, is now being given its first new production at Theater Bonn since 1969.

Cast:

Music director: Daniel Johannes Mayr

Stage director: Kateryna Sokolova

Set designer: Nikolaus Webern

Costume designer: Constanza Meza-Lopehandia

Choreographer: NN

Dramaturge: Polina Sandler

Chorus director: André Kellinghaus

With: Nicole Wacker, Dietrich Hentschel and others