Chamber opera by Ellen Reid · Libretto by Roxie Perkins
In English with German and English surtitles

“Just think of happy moments.”

Lumee lovingly cares for her daughter, who can no longer walk due to a mysterious illness. Bibi struggles against the demons that have left her paralysed, and increasingly, her struggle turns against her own mother. Only now does her memory slowly begin to return: when Lumee left her alone at a club, Bibi was raped. Confronting her trauma ultimately helps Bibi break free from the paralysis that has held her captive.

Premiered in 2018 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the chamber opera explores the mind’s compulsive attempts to narrate and make sense of experiences it cannot bear. At what point do the stories we tell ourselves in order to cope become more harmful than the trauma they are meant to conceal?

Contributors

Yorgos Ziavras — Music Director / Conductor

Tal Rosner — Stage Direction & Video

Marlena Gundlach — Set Design

Melina Poppe — Costume Design

Thusnelda Mercy — Choreography

Ulrich Zippelius — Chorus Master

Laura Knoll — Dramaturgy

Sharon Tadmor, guest — Bibi

Edith Grossman — Lumee

Opera Chorus of the Wuppertaler Bühnen

Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal