Clemens K. Thomas | Dollhouse
Komposition
Clemens K. Thomas
Composer
As a composer and curator, Clemens K. Thomas tells stories and deals with pressing issues of our time. Recurring motifs in his works are the processing of our everyday media life and the nostalgic transfiguration of the past. Linked to this, the world of play, playfulness, toys and instrumental playing run like a red thread through his work, for example in his work with puppets or music automatons. As a harpsichordist and opera fan, Clemens has an emotional relationship with the European musical tradition, which he clashes with pop culture and internet phenomena in a contemporary form.
"DOLLHOUSE - eine cute Oper” will be premiered at the Hamburg State Opera in the 24/25 season. The work is supported by the Claussen Simon Foundation and is being created in conjunction with an artistic-scientific dissertation on cuteness as an aesthetic category.
Clemens' portfolio includes vocal, instrumental and music-theatrical pieces as well as spatial compositions and installations. His works have been performed by musicians such as the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Ensemble Recherche, Boglárka Pecze and the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, the Cité de la Musique - Philharmonie de Paris, the ECLAT Festival and at Frau* Musica Nova, among others. His music has been broadcast on ARTE and various radio stations, including Deutschlandfunk, SWR 2, WDR 3 and France Musique.
Clemens studied composition in Freiburg with Johannes Schöllhorn and Cornelius Schwehr. From 2019 to 2022 he was Artistic Manager of Ensemble Recherche Freiburg. As a freelance curator, Clemens K. Thomas works with Ensemble Resonanz and the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, among others. Together with Friederike Scheunchen and Lucia Kilger, he directs Ensemble Scope.
More about Clemens K. Thomas
photo: Katja Ruge
Libretto
Friedemann Dupelius
Libretto
Friedemann Dupelius works with sound and language. He moves between artistic, journalistic and documentary approaches, which influence each other and often find their way into a work at the same time. He writes radio features and essays on electronic, experimental and contemporary music and other phenomena of the acoustic present for WDR3, SWR2 and Deutschlandfunk, among others, as well as for print media such as positionen, zweikommasieben and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. For the project “Other Histories” by Ensemble Recherche, he created a video dramaturgy about musical archives and memory practices, which was shown at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik in 2024.
As Friday Dunard, he produces genre-fluid electronic music, which he releases, performs live or mixes into DJ sets. In September 2023, the album “Rhenus Aeternus” was released on the Cologne label Magazine. Under the alias Wednesday Dupont, he creates radio plays, sonic research, digital and acoustic texts for radio, festivals and the internet. He is interested in the relationship between sound and language, knowledge and fiction.
Friedemann Dupelius is part of the Cologne experimental choir Γλώσσα (Glossa) and various collaborative music projects. He works as a curator in Cologne for the music label SPA, the sound art series Brückenmusik and the “Night of Surprise” in the Stadtgarten. In 2020 he was awarded the Reinhard Schulz Prize for contemporary music journalism. In 2022, he received the Karl Sczuka Research Grant from the Goethe-Institut and SWR2 for the radio play “CHOLERA” with Γλώσσα. Friedemann Dupelius gives seminars and workshops on topics in the spectrum between sound and language, including at the Peter Behrens School of Arts Düsseldorf, the Skanas Dienas Festival Liepaja (Latvia), the guterstoff Festival Cologne and the Beethovenfest Bonn.
photo: Pitt Wenninger
Inszenierung
Alicia Geugelin
Director
Birthplace:
Freiburg i.Br., Germany
Studies:
2013-2018: Studies of music theater directing - HfMT Hamburg
2010-2014: Studies of political science - University of Heidelberg
2008-2012: Music studies - Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts (piano, singing, choral/orchestral conducting)
Prizes:
Prize of the City of Graz (Ring Award Finale), winner of START.OFF (competition, Lichthoftheater Hamburg), scholarship holder of the Claussen Simon Foundation, scholarship holder of the Akademie Musiktheater heute, invitation to Körber Festival Junge Regie, Warnke-Förderpreis
Important productions:
La Traviata (Theater Pforzheim), La Cenerentola (Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier), Virilité.e.s (Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier), Don Giovanni (Ring Award Finale, Schauspielhaus Graz), Ich. Wir. Don Giovanni (Kampnagel Hamburg, Thalia Theater Hamburg), A Fairy Queen (Staatsoper Hamburg)
More about Alicia Geugelin
photo: Christina Körte
Musikalische Leitung
Rupert Burleigh
Musical Direction
Birthplace:
London, England
Studies:
Piano, Conducting und Musicology with Prof. Hamish Milne at Royal Academy of Music London (1984-1989); solo class Prof. David Wilde at University of Music and Drama Hanover (1989-1994)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera
Director of Studies since 2010/11
Career stages:
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden (1998-2000), Director of Studies and Director opera studio at Oper Köln (2000-2010), guest at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2017), lecturer at Hochschule für Musik Hamburg (since 2013)
Cooperation with orchestras:
Arion Orchestra London, Gürzenich Orchester Köln
More about Rupert Burleigh
photo: Karlinsky
Bühnenbild
Letycia Rossi
Equipment
Birthplace:
Goiânia, Brazil
Studies:
Architecture and Urban Planning at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás, Brazil, and Stage Design at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst Hamburg with Raimund Bauer
Prizes:
2018 - Best Set Design Award at the CinePE Festival de Audiovisual for the feature film Dias Vazios. Directed by Robney Bruno
2011 - Best Set Design Award at the 8th Festival de Cinema de Maringá for my set design in the short film "Gertrudes e seu Homem". Directed by Adriana Rodrigues
2012 - Best Production Design Award at the Festival Nacional dos Sertões for my set design in the short film "Gertrudes e seu Homem". Directed by Adriana Rodrigues
Important productions:
2023 - Direction, set design and costume/E|U, experimental video art Directed by: Letycia Rossi & Henrique Rodovalho.
2022 - Space concept for Fluctoplasma - Hamburg's Festival for Art, Discourse and Diversity / Museum am Rothenbaum, MARKK "Zwischenraum".
2022 - Stage design/ Kill your Ego, Lichthoftheater - Hamburg, Schauspielhaus Hannover, Director: Ron Zimmering & Volker Bürger
2021 - Stage design/ Virilité, Opera Orchestre National Montpellier - Montpellier (France), Director: Alicia Geugelin
2021 - Stage Design/ Requiem for an Illusion, Kraftwerk Bille - Hamburg (Germany), Director: Alicia Geugelin
2020 - Stage design/Só tinha de ser com você, São Paulo Dance Company - Teatro Municipal São Paulo - Brazil, Director: Henrique Rodovalho
2020 - Stage design/ Killing in the name of, Lichthoftheater - Hamburg, Director: Alicia Geugelin
2019 - Space concept for the Virtual Reality & Arts Festival/VRHam 2019/
Cooperations:
Theater and Dance Theater: Henrique Rodovalho, Alicia Geugelin, Ron Zimmering.
Film: Robney Bruno, Erico Rassi, Claudia Nunes
More about Letycia Rossi
photo: Bruno Galvao
Kostüme
Pia Preuß
Costume Design
Birthplace:
Bonn, Germany
Studies:
Master of Arts in Costume Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, under the direction of Reinhard von der Thannen
Media culture and musicology at the University of Cologne
Apprenticeship as a fashion tailor
Prizes:
Winner of the START.OFF competition 2020 for the production "Killing in the Name of", finalist of the Ring Award 2020/21 and winner of the Prize of the City of Graz, scholarship holder of the Akademie Musiktheater Heute
Important productions:
La Cenerentola (Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier), Virilité.e.s. (Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier), la traviata (Theater Pforzheim), Penthesilea (Malsaal, Deutsches Schauspielhaus), et al.
Career stages:
Freelance costume designer in the fields of musical theater, drama and film
Cooperations:
Alicia Geugelin, Ensemble Modern, Cat Hope
More about Pia Preuß
photo: Karim Abbas
Dramaturgie
Michael Sangkuhl
Dramaturgy
Birthplace:
Regensburg, Germany
Studies:
Historical musicology, philosophy and art history at the University of Regensburg
Relation to the State Opera:
Dramaturge at the Hamburg State Opera and for the concerts of the Philharmonic State Orchestra since the 2022/23 season
Stations:
Internships, assistant director, evening stage manager and stage manager for surtitles at the Staatstheater Saarbrücken, at the Theater Regensburg and at the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl
Academic teaching in the field of musicology at the University of Regensburg
photo: Johannes Xaver Zepplin
Mädchen / Avatarin
Marie Maidowski
Soprano
Birthplace:
Berlin, Germany
Studies:
Bachelor in singing and music theater with KS Prof. Julie Kaufmann at the Berlin University of the Arts Master in concert singing with KS Prof. Christiane Iven at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich
Master class:
19th Lotte Lehmann Week in Perleberg (2016)
Masterclass with Prof. Marga Schiml in Switzerland (2019)
Masterclass with Prof. Gabriele Lechner in Baden near Vienna (2020)
Prizes:
Scholarship from the Young Musicians Foundation in Mühlheim (2018) Scholarship from the Cusanuswerk study grant (since 2020) Finalist at the German National Singing Competition in the Junior Competition category (2020) Scholarship from the German Stage Association (2023) Staetshuys Fund Prize and Van Amelsvoort Prize for the best interpretation of a work by a female composer at the International Vocal Competition 2023 in `s Hertogenbosch with Lied Duo partner YoungSeob Jeon
Audience and jury prize at the HIDALGO Song Prize 2023 with Lied Duo partner YoungSeob Jeon
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from the 2024/25 season
Important parts:
Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Nurse (Alzheim), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), Silvia (L'isola disabitata), Lovis (Der Baumgeist), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Daphne Colgate (Georgia Bottoms), et al.
Stages:
Staatstheater Cottbus, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Cuvilliéstheater Munich, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Frank Hilbrich, Bernarda Horres, Tomo Sugao, Maximilian Berling, Isabel Hindersin, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Errico Fresis, Johannes Zurl, Johanna Soller, Aris Blettenberg, Henri Bonamy, Gad Kadosh, et al.
More about Marie Maidowski
photo: Jörn Kipping
Nachbar
Aaron Godfrey-Mayes
Tenor
Birthplace:
Mansfield, United Kingdom
Studies:
Mascarade Emerging Artist (2022-2023)
Mascarade Opera Studio (2021-2022)
Advanced Diploma, Royal Academy Opera
Master of Arts, Royal Academy of Music
Bachelor of Music, Royal Academy of Music
Master class:
Allan Clayton, Royal Academy of Music
Dennis O’Neill, Royal Academy of Music
Carmen Santoro, Mascarade Opera Studio
Ann Murray
Ian Partridge, Royal Academy of Music
Prizes:
1 st place, Royal Academy of Music Pavarotti Prize
3 rd place & Wil Keune Mozart Prize, Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition
1 st place, David Clover Festival of Singing Recital Prize
19 th century Italian opera prize, Mozart Singing Competition
Prize winner, Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award
1 st place, Nottinghamshire Masonic Music Association Bursary
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the season 2023/24
Important parts:
Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Alì (Adina), Albert Herring (Albert Herring), Triquet (Eugene Onegin)
Stages:
Teatro La Fenice, Garsington Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Königliches Kurtheater Bad Wildbad, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Oliver Mears, Marie Lambert-Le Bihan, Noa Naamat, Douglas Boyd, Paul Curran, Federico Grazzini, Pedro Ribeiro, Jean-Romain Vesperini, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Philippe Herreweghe, Trevor Pinnock, Iain Ledingham, Luciano Acocella, Jonathan Santagada, Douglas Boyd, Sian Edwards, Peter Robinson, Matthew Scott Rogers, Nicholas Chalmers, Dionysis Grammenos, Tom Seligman, et al.
photo: Jörn Kipping
Puppen-Tochter
Na'ama Shulman
Soprano
Birthplace:
Israel
Studies:
Bachelor (with honors) and Master of Music in Classical Singing at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
Prizes:
Second Prize at the International Opera Competition in Jerusalem (2018), First Prize at the Charles Schneider Competition (2017), First Prize at the Tavor-Fintz Memorial Competition (2016)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from 2018/19 till 2019/20
Important parts:
Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Musetta (La bohème), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Despina (Così fan tutte), Servilia (La clemena di Tito), Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Juliette (Die tote Stadt), Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Diana (Orpheus in der Unterwelt), Bacchis (La belle Hélène), 2. Niece (Peter Grimes), Lidochka (Moscow, Tscherjomuschki), et al.
Stages:
Staatsoper Hamburg, Theater Magdeburg, Staatstheater Mainz, The Jerusalem Opera, Piccolo Opera Festival Friuli Venezia Giulia, Jerusalem Theatre, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, et al.
Cooperation with directors:
Kirill Serebrennikov, Vera Nemirova, Olivia Fuchs, Stephen Lawless, Karen Stone, Igor Pison, Mirella Weingarten, Ulrich Wiggers, Shirit Lee Weiss, Anna Bernreitner, Eva Buchmann, Monica Waitzfelder, Ari Teperberg, et al.
Cooperation with conductors:
Kent Nagano, Paolo Carignani, Nathan Brock, Ricardo Minasi, Roland Kluttig, Christoph Gedschold, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Matteo Beltrami, Anna Skryleva, Svetoslav Borisov, Sebastiano Rolli, Pablo Mielgo, Paolo Spadaro, et al.
Cooperation with orchestras:
Magdeburgische Philharmonie, Ramat Gan Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Simfònica De Les Illes Balears, Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, Israel NK Orchestra, Concerto Hamburg, et al.
More about Na'ama Shulman
Puppen-Mutter
Aebh Kelly
Mezzo-Soprano
Birthplace:
Dublin, Ireland
Studies:
Mascarade Emerging Artists, Florence
Georg Solti Accademia
Irish National Opera Studio
Royal Irish Academy of Music (BMus)
Master class:
Richard Bonynge, Aigul Akhmetshina, Freddie De Tommaso (Georg Solti Accademia), Vivica Genaux (Mascarade Emerging Artists), Tara Erraught, Paula Murrihy (Irish National Opera), Bernarda Fink (Neue Stimmen Masterclass), Ann Murray (Royal Irish Academy of Music)
Prizes:
2nd Prize & Dermot Troy Prize (Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition)
Final Round (Neue Stimmen)
1st Prize (Maura Dowdall Concerto Competition)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2024/2025 season.
Important parts:
Dido (Dido & Aeneas), Flora (La Traviata), Olga (Eugene Onegin), Popova (The Bear), Endimione (La Calisto), Catherine (A Thing I Cannot Name), Melissa (La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina)
Stages:
Teatro La Fenice, Theater und Orchester Heidelberg, Teatr Wielki Opera, National Opera House Wexford, Cork Opera House, National Concert Hall Dublin
Cooperation with directors:
Marie Lambert-Le Bihan, Noa Naamat, Jean-Romain Vesperini, Pedro Ribiero, Federico Grazzini, Olivia Fuchs, Sonja Trebes
Cooperation with conductors:
Laurent Wagner, Roland Kluttig, Jonathan Santagada, Jonathan Bloxham, Wyn Davies, Christian Curnyn, Fergus Sheil, Killian Farrel, David Brophy, Jonathan Cole-Swinard
More about Aebh Kelly
photo: Jörn Kipping
Puppen-Sohn
Mziwamadoda Sipho Nodlayiya
Tenor
Birthplace:
Cape Town, South Africa
Studies:
Postgraduate Diploma in Opera Performance (2023), Diploma in Opera Performance (2021)
Master class:
Martin Hundelt – Johannesburg International Mozart festival (2024)
Levy Sekagapane - Opera UCT Masterclass Series (2023)
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the season 2024/25
Important parts:
Camille, Count de Rosillon (The Merry Widow), Hendrik Cesars (Sara Baartman), Cochenille (Le Conte d’Hoffmann, Bertrando (L’inganno felice), Ernesto (don Pasquale)
Stages:
Artscape Opera House, Pam Golding/Baxter Theatre
Cooperation with directors:
Steven Stead, Matthew Wild, Claudia Blersch, Christine Nolte, Janice Honeyman, Zenobia Kloppers
Cooperation with conductors:
Jeremy Silver, Kamal Khan, Richard Cock, Jochen Rieder
photo: Jörn Kipping
Puppen-Vater
Keith Klein
Bass-Baritone
Birthplace:
Overland Park, Kansas, United States of America
Studies:
Bachelors Degree in Vocal Performance, Eastman School of Music
Masters Degree in Vocal Performance, Florida State University
Prizes:
Laffont Competition Regional 3rd Place Winner, Metropolitan Opera, 2024
Laffont Competition District Winner, Metropolitan Opera, 2024
Barbara and Stanley Richman Memorial Award, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, 2022
NATS SouthEast Conference- Best College Male Florida State University, 2019
Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera since the season 2024/25
Important parts:
Dr. Grenville (La Traviata), Colline (La boheme), Sparafucille (Rigoletto), Angelotti (Tosca), Notary (Der Rosenkavalier) Dr. Podsnap (Awakenings)
Stages:
Santa Fe/Crosby Theatre, Opera Colorado/Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Florida Grand Opera/ Adrienne Arscht Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City/Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Theatre of St. Louis/ Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts
Cooperation with directors:
James Robinson, Patricia Racette, Chia Patiño, Matthew Lata
Cooperation with conductors:
Patrick Summers, Roberto Kalb, Daniella Candillari, Benton Hess
More about Keith Klein
photo: Jörn Kipping
Orchester
Mitglieder des Philharmonischen Staatsorchesters Hamburg
The Philharmonic State Orchestra is Hamburg’s largest and oldest orchestra, looking back on many years of musical history. When the “Philharmonic Orchestra” and the “Orchestra of the Hamburg Municipal Theatre” merged in 1934, two tradition-steeped orchestras combined. Philharmonic concerts have been performed in Hamburg since 1828, artists such as Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms being regular guests of the Philharmonic Society. The history of the opera company goes back even further: Hamburg has been home to musical theatre since 1678, even if a regular opera or theatre orchestra was only formed later. To this day, the Philharmonic State Orchestra has embodied the sound of the Hansa City, a concert and opera orchestra in one.
During its long history, the orchestra encountered great artist personalities. Apart from composers of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, such as Telemann, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Mahler, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, since the 20th century chief conductors such as Karl Muck, Joseph Keilberth, Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Aldo Ceccato, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gerd Albrecht, Ingo Metzmacher and Simone Young have shaped the orchestra’s sound. Renowned conductors of the pre-war era such as Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Karl Böhm and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt gave brilliant performances, as did outstanding conductors of our times: suffice it to mention Christian Thielemann, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Sir Neville Marriner, Valery Gergiev and Sir Roger Norrington.
Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Kent Nagano has taken on the position of Hamburg’s General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra and the Hamburg State Opera. In his first season Kent Nagano initiated a new project, the Philharmonic Academy, focusing on experimentation and chamber music. In 2016 Nagano and the Philharmonic undertook a successful three-week concert tour in South America, a tour of Spain followed in 2019. Since 2017 Kent Nagano and the Philharmonic State Orchestra have continued the traditional Philharmonic Concerts at the new Elbphilharmonie, for which they commissioned Jörg Widmann to compose the oratorio ARCHE, which was given its world premiere during the hall’s opening festivities. The concert recording has been released at ECM.
The Philharmonic State Orchestra offers approximately 35 concerts per season and performs more than 240 performances per year at the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier, making it Hamburg’s busiest orchestra. The stylistic bandwidth covered by the 140 musicians, ranging from historically informed performance practice to contemporary works and including concert, opera and ballet repertoire, is unique throughout Germany. Chamber Music has a long tradition at the Philharmonic State Orchestra: what began in 1929 with a concert series for chamber orchestra has been continued since 1968 by a series of chamber music only.
In 2008 Simone Young and the Philharmonic State Orchestra won the Brahms Award of the Schleswig-Holstein Brahms Society. The orchestra has recorded the complete Ring by Wagner as well as the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner – the latter in the rarely-performed original versions – as well as works by Mahler, Hindemith and Berg, and has released DVDs of opera and ballet productions by Hosokawa, Offenbach, Reimann, Auerbach, J.S. Bach, Puccini, Poulenc and Weber.
The members of the Philharmonic State Orchestra feel equally beholden to Hamburg’s musical tradition and responsible for the city’s artistic future. Since 1978 the musicians have been participating in education programmes in Hamburg’s schools. Today, the orchestra maintains a broad education programme, including school and kindergarten visits, patronage for music projects, introductory events for children and family concerts. The orchestra’s own academy prepares young musicians for their professional careers. The Philharmonic’s musicians thereby make an equally enjoyable and valuable contribution to tomorrow’s music education in the music metropolis of Hamburg.
photo: Foto: Felix Broede
