MEDIATHEK

An opera singer loses her voice and travels throughout deserted Europe, from Germany, through Poland and finally to Kaliningrad, to find it back. Along the way she meets the last communities which continue their musical traditions in hidden places. The footage of this disastrous roadtrip was the basis for the composition and staging of the film-opera FIASKO.
 This idea originated in the current European conflicts between nationalism and strengthening of the outer borders. We worked with opera as a traditional European cultural form. A form that on the one hand expresses crisis and catastrophe and on the other hand can only be realized with the strength of many.
 
 FIASKO is an opera without primadonna.
 
 She is only to be seen on the screen, travelling far away. What we see is the remains, the debris of an opera, the choir and orchestra that was left behind, a last soloist with a disabled instrument, the echoing of forgotten opera sounds and apocalyptic soundscapes.
 FIASKO is an opera about the using, losing and finding of a voice, about the sounds that are left after the catastrophe.
 
 The music of FIASKO comes from different sources: from local traditional music groups which we filmed and recorded on the trip, from samples of the classical opera repertoire (selected by conductor Johannes Harneit) and from original compositions by Hans-Joachim Hespos and Wojtek Blecharz, which were inspired by the deserted landscapes in the movie and the topic of the lost voice.