Selemo

The South African composers and performers S’busiso Shozi and Nhlanhla Mahlangu from Johannesburg’s Centre for the Less Good Idea approach the concept of spring anew with the chamber opera SELEMO – through body, sound, and voice. Together with soloists and orchestral musicians of the Komische Oper Berlin, they engage in a musical conversation about returning to a deeply rooted understanding of nature beyond the colonial calendar system. African rites of passage encounter baroque splendor, Antonio Vivaldi’s violin concerto The Four Seasons meets Umkhosi woMhlanga, the ritual reed dance of the Swazi.

Turbulence, grief, and beauty: For many South Africans, the first season symbolizes not only the end of (winter’s) hardship, but is also concretely tied to historical-political memories of student uprisings and strikes. Just as spring itself repeatedly refuses to settle, the springtime opera SELEMO falters, repeats, and begins anew in three movements. Its world premiere at the music theater festival SCHALL&RAUSCH demonstrates that the hope for renewal must be tested again and again. 

CO-COMPOSER, MUSICAL DIRECTOR S’busiso Shozi CO-COMPOSER, STAGE DIRECTOR Nhlanhla Mah­lan­gu MUSICAL MENTOR Neo Muyanga PRODUCER Bronwyn Lace ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Dimakatso Motholo COSTUMES / STAGE DESIGN Nthabiseng Malaka STAGE DESIGN ASSISTENT Elena Gorlatova LIGHT DESIGN Michael Inglis VISUAL ARTIST Marcus Neustetter SCRIPT WRITER Stacey Hardy DRAMATURGY Sophie Jira/Dennis Depta ASSISTANT DIRECTOR / STAGE MANAGER Sandra M. Heinzelmann PRODUCTION MANAGER Lucia Leyser

WITH the performers Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala, Tshegofatso Khunwane, Gregory “Kekelingo” Mabusela, Vhahangwele Moopo, Pertunia Msani, Al­ma Sa­dé / Polly Ott and the musicians Deniz Tahberer, Julia Lindner de Azevedo Conte, Magdalena Bogner, Arnulf Ballhorn and Tuyêt Pham