Turing

Only gradually in recent years has the image of Alan Turing as a tragic hero of the 20th century taken shape: the mathematician who paved the way for the computer, who cracked German codes and thereby helped determine the outcome of the Second World War, before being driven to suicide because of his homosexuality. In his opera, Anno Schreier tells of the hard-won rise and unjust fall of a genius who never felt at home in the world he helped to save.

The gap between what Turing achieved and the way society treated him offers rich dramatic material for an opera. Georg Holzer’s libretto is based on several historical sources, but it is not a biographical retelling; rather, it is an exploration of Turing’s personality. At its heart lies Turing’s relationship with a fictional character named Madame KI. She is the only "person" in his life with whom he can converse as an equal, and at the same time an allegory for what was probably Turing’s only true love – science.

Hailed by critics as a "world premiere of great entertainment value", this opera is a moving spectacle with effective, resonant music. Drawing on a variety of musical traditions from the 1940s and 50s, it balances on the threshold between opera and musical theatre and unfolds the emotional highs and lows of its protagonist with great force.