Einstein on the Beach

A hyper-artificial world between future vision, computer game and psychedelic rapture encounters “Einstein on the Beach”, the 20th century masterpiece by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. Inspired by the unconventional genius Albert Einstein, who once relativized time, Glass and Wilson created the opera “Einstein on the Beach”, revolutionising the worlds of theatre and music in 1976.

Kennedy and Selg take on this hypnotic tableau which unfolds without a linear narrative, but with propelling music and enigmatic verses, creating a walk-in musical theatre installation that merges ritual, theatre and visual arts. On the continually revolving stage, a new kind of community converges whose ritual movement vocabulary makes them appear to live according to their own, mysterious rules. Repetitive patterns of music, dance and in the set, which is based on 3D-modelling and video design, evoke a formal spirituality. They render time tangible as a sensory phenomenon and transfer the piece into today’s lived simultaneity. While this world of complete aesthetic autonomy thereby creates a presence in which past and future grow indistinct, the audience is invited to enter the stage and thus to become part of this reality. Spectators can move around the stalls freely and make individual decisions as to how they would like to experience this piece with all its acoustic and visual levels.

For the first time, the two special ensembles Basler Madrigalisten and the Ensemble Phœnix Basel can be seen together in an opera production.