MELENCOLIA

Taking Albrecht Dürer’s engraving “Melencolia I” as its starting point, numerous figures and themes are presented on the stage of “MELENCOLIA” and set in relation to one another: Muntendorf/Lobeck go in search of the liberating melancholic mood in a series of seven tableaux, encountering football stadiums and digital cemeteries of virtual “Second Life” worlds, Austrian folk songs, complex instrumental music and Japanese karaoke, AI voice clones and digital guests including the Iranian ney-anbān virtuoso Saeid Shanbehzadeh.

Tailored for 14 musicians of the Ensemble Modern and accompanied by singers from the Apollo Choir, this work addresses the historical complexities of melancholy – perceived variously as an illness, as a way of overcoming earthly suffering or as the sister of genius. The puzzling polyhedron in Albrecht Dürer’s engraving has become a symbol for these contradictions amid the human desire for salvation.

“MELENCOLIA” combines classical performance with cutting-edge approaches at the intersection of art and technology. Set in a post-digital environment, this work of music theatre weaves together a fascinating tapestry of sound and visuals, a hybrid space between showroom and green-screen studio, between real and virtual worlds. “MELENCOLIA” transcends the superficially spectacular to prompt introspection among the audience and, beyond this, to challenge the indifference of the universe. 

The work has already been recognised for its innovation by becoming the first music theatre to receive an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica. Following a guest performance at the HOLLAND Festival, ‘MELENCOLIA’ will celebrate its German premiere at MaerzMusik 2025 in cooperation with Staatsoper Unter den Linden.