TAL ROSNER’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT AT WUPPERTAL OPERA HOUSE. PRISM BY ELLEN REID, WITH A LIBRETTO BY ROXIE PERKINS. WINNER OF THE 2019 PULITZER PRIZE FOR MUSIC.

A haunting, kaleidoscopic chamber opera exploring trauma, memory and the stories we construct to survive.

At its centre are Bibi and her mother Lumee, isolated from the outside world in a seemingly protective sanctuary. As fragments of Bibi's past begin to resurface, the boundaries between memory, imagination and reality gradually dissolve, revealing a far more troubling truth.

Ellen Reid's visceral score moves between intimacy and overwhelming sonic intensity, creating a world in which music, image and movement become inseparable.

The production

Tal Rosner's new staging places video, light and movement at the heart of the theatrical language. A modular architecture of illuminated frames and projection surfaces creates a shifting landscape of spaces, perspectives and memories.

Colour, a central element of Reid's musical world, becomes both a visual and psychological force. Images emerge, fracture, repeat and transform, moving between abstraction and photographic reality. The chorus, known as Chroma, extends beyond its musical role into a physical presence, inhabiting the space through a group of performers whose movements echo and amplify the protagonists' inner worlds.

CREATIVE TEAM

Musical Direction: Yorgos Ziavras
Stage Direction & Video: Tal Rosner
Set Design: Marlena Gundlach
Costume Design: Melina Poppe
Movement Direction: Thusnelda Mercy
Dramaturgy: Laura Knoll

Bibi: Sharon Tadmor
Lumee: Edith Grossman

Chorus: Wuppertal Opera Chorus
Orchestra: Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra