The Relatives

Su 8.11.26
The Relatives
Su 8.11.26, 18:00
from € 35 / 18
Guest performance, World premiere, Premiere | Tischlerei

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Musical documentary theatre by Sergei Nevsky

Guest performance Opera Unlimited Tischlerei

Conductor
Composition, staging, concept
Stage design, video, light design
Yan Kalnberzin
AI-assisted live processing
Taran Singh
Dramaturgical consulting
Stephan Meier

With
Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Musical documentary theatre by Sergej Newski for five vocal soloists SSATB, soloist ensemble of twelve musicians and video (five live cams with AI-supported morphing, LED screen and lighting)
Libretto by Gareth Mattey based on documentary material by the composer
World premiere at the Tischlerei of the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 8 November 2026

What remains of a family whose home keeps disappearing? ? The Relatives follows the family history of composer Sergej Newski. Based on interviews with his grandmother Anna Timofeevna Kravchenko and unique Super 8 recordings from 1968, the result is a multimedia narration across four generations, from 1912 to the present. The form is radical: a video conference between times and augmented reality as a dramaturgic principle. Interviews and documentary materials transform into a conversation that blurs the lines between past and present. Cutting-edge AI morphs live cams and archival materials into one another, not as a technical spectacle but as a way to search for a believable form in which the story can be told. People are shown in a state of seemingly endless, intergenerational flight, maintaining their ethos in the most impossible circumstances. People who do not sacrifice their empathy. People who can laugh and find the most unconventional solutions in their fight for survival. This is an international co-production that asks: How do we remember that which cannot be told? How do we give shape to the act of vanishing?
LanguageIn English
Durationapprox. 60 minutes / No interval
Age recommendationrecommended from age 15
Further informationFree choice of seats
Co-productionAn event organised by Deutsche Oper Berlin in collaboration with VOICES FESTIVAL BERLIN, Karsten Witt Musikmanagement, Musik der Jahrhunderte/Festival ECLAT and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, supported by CreaTech Frontiers and Arts Council England.

New productions 26/27