A Celebration of Kurt Weill

Programme:

Kurt Weill:  Suite from The Threepenny Opera for Wind Orchestra

Paul Hindemith: Konzertmusik fur Blasorchester Opus 41

Kurt Weill: Berliner Requiem for Male Choir, Soloists and Wind Orchestra

Kurt Weill: Mahagonny Songspiel  Operatic Production with Wind Orchestra

These iconic works, from the peak of Weimar Republic cultural freedom, constitute a collaboration with the Adelaide Wind Orchestra, the Adelaide Hills Chamber Players and Co-Opera. The celebrated Adelaide Wind Orchestra under the Musical Direction of Bryan Griffiths, will provide the instrumentalists needed for the vocal works and present wind-only pieces to enrich the program.

The Mahagonny Songspiel is a condensation of the full evening opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill. It graphically concentrates the decadence of life in Mahagonny ……its despair, sexual corruption and pervading sense of helplessness.

The Berliner Requiem is a Cantata dedicated to the forgotten dead [unknown casualties in World War I], based on poems by Bertold Brecht. The titles of the poems betray the sentiments…..Great Chorale of Thanksgiving / Ballad of the Drowned Girl / Memorial Tablet /Gravestone 1919 / Report on the Unknown Soldier / To Potsdam under the Oak Trees.

Creative Staff:

Musical Director: Bryan Griffiths

Stage Director: Macintyre Howie Reeves

Stage Designer: James Nicholson

Repetiteur: Joseph Ingram

Cast:

Mahagonny Songspiel

Jessie: Fiona McArdle

Bessie: Deborah Johnson

Charlie: Robert Macfarlane

Billy: James Nicholson

Bobby: Christian Evans

Jimmy: Jeremy Tatchell

Artists:

Berliner Requiem

Tenor: Robert Macfarlane

Baritone: Jeremy Tatchell

Male Chorus: Heysen Singers

Instrumental ensemble

Adelaide Wind Orchestra

Refreshments:

grazing platter. pizza. dessert included.

Bookings:

BOOKINGS OPEN 1st July 2025

Please Note: This project enjoys the generous support of THE ROYAL COMMONWEALTH SOCIETY (SA) but is still subject to the success of funding currently sought from the SA Government through Art. SA. The project will be confirmed or cancelled in June 2025