The prologue to this year’s Wiener Festwochen is an ode to life. And this time star director Romeo Castellucci, a Festwochen regular, has chosen to focus on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s last, uncompleted work. His stage production of the Requiem is undeniably a masterpiece. Together with conductor Raphaël Pichon and the outstanding Pygmalion Ensemble comprised of orchestra and choir, he has succeeded in producing a momentous rapture of creation and decay. Circle dances, battles of paint, materials and images oscillate between celebrations of the forthcoming and solemn ceremonial farewells. This aesthetically opulent stage version of the famous funeral mass showcases the choir as a main protagonist. Thus the evening does not focus on one particular individual; rather, it chooses to peruse the ‘Atlas of Great Extinctions’. While extinction draws chronologically ever nearer to us present-day human beings via dinosaurs and Neanderthals, an overwhelming ensemble of singers and dancers seeks to steer an opposite course with verve and vibrancy. With Castellucci, the Christian hope of redemption in the afterlife becomes the necessary new beginning for the next generation.

- Artistic Team
Direction, Set, Costume, Light design Romeo Castellucci Conductor Raphaël Pichon Dramaturgy Piersandra Di Matteo Associate direction, Costume Silvia Costa Associate light design Marco Giusti Choreography Evelin Facchini Direction assistance Josie Daxter Conductor assistance Frank Markowitsch Set design assistance Alessio Valmori Costume design assistance Elisabeth De Sauverzac Orchestra, Chorus Pygmalion Soprano Sandrine Piau Alto Sara Mingardo Tenor Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani Bass Nahuel di Pierro Singing child Izaak Benjamin Reynolds, Philipp Lukas Gruber-Hirschbrich With Rainer Berson, Giovanni Dellefant, Hermann Feenders, Annika Habacher, Lucien Habacher-Choplain, Helga Jessenig, Christina Osternik, Elisaveta Lyssenko, Ida Marie Metyko, Marcus Andreas Richter, Rupert Schmidt, Brigitte Weinberger Dance Alessandra Maria Barreggi, Nikoline Flaata, Adrian Infeld, Soleil Véronique Jean-Maraine, Livia Farahnaz Khazanehdari, Marcos Martincano García, Juan Francisco Núñez Robles, Camilla Orlandi, Rubén Peinado Tomás, Seraphim Schuchter, Christina Skoutela, Sophia Danae Vorvila
- Production
Production Festival d’Aix-en-Provence Coproduction Wiener Festwochen, Adelaide Festival, Theater Basel, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Valencia), La Monnaie / De Munt (Brüssel)