Unsuk Chin: Alice in Wonderland

Former chief conductor Markus Stenz concludes the Matine season with Unsuk Chin's opera Alice in Wonderland. Soprano Gloria Rehm sings the extraordinary title role.

Dream world full of fairy-tale music
With the performance of Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonder land, this work will have its Dutch premiere, after the opera was first performed with great success at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2007. The bizarre adventures of the young girl Alice in a hallucinatory dream world full of fantasy characters inspired Chin's most evocative music.

Wondrous echoes from music history
In the first movement, the atmospheric orchestra circles around the main character's alienating entanglements and emotions. In the second part, this quality is combined with twisted fragments and distant echoes from our music history. For a moment Altijd is Kortjakje ziek sounds, then again a harmonica accompanies the Mock Turtle's soup choir. A highlight is the Advice from a Caterpillar, in which a bass clarinet-playing caterpillar keeps bumping into the blue notes of Gershwin and Stravinsky's opening bars of the Sacre. The title role is performed by the adventurous soprano Gloria Rehm.