Commission to Philipp Krebs

The pioneers of a New Right gather at Zornfried Castle: a lady of the castle philosophizes about ethnicity, groups of young men train their bodies for combat, and a mysterious poet crafts verses dripping with blood, consecration, and kitsch. And again and again, connections to a growing new party shine through. This also attracts critical journalists who pompously accompany the New Right cultural center—losing all distance and doing democracy a disservice.

In 2019, Jörg-Uwe Albig wrote Zornfried, one of “the most important books of the year” (FAZ). In the Kassel premiere as a novel adaptation, the boundaries between participatory observation and observant participation become increasingly blurred: military training exercises, Wagner, and solemn banquets fill the aura of the old Prussian hunting barracks around the INTERIM.

For Zornfried, composer Philipp Krebs sets out in search of the grotesque horror vision of new German tonality. In the underground of his advanced sound language with a large orchestra, leitmotifs whisper from time to time, national romantic sounds mix with beer-sour folk music hits and retro kitsch, and beneath the tempting, tongue-in-cheek lightness lurks a deep brown abyss. Director Kerstin Steeb and conductor Viktor Jugović heighten the real-life satire as a space-filling new music theater piece in which one all too quickly becomes innocently guilty.

The commission to Philipp Krebs for the Staatstheater Kassel is made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
staatstheater-kassel.de

Dates

April 18, 2026 (world premiere)
April 23, 2026
May 2, 9, 15, & 29, 2026
June 14, 20, & 24, 2026
Staatstheater Kassel