THE ROSENBERGS, an opera
Denmark Premiere, March 2015
THE NEW OPERA, Esbjerg Concert Hall
The Rosenbergs, an opera, is a tragic love story about family, political passions, and betrayal. It focuses on the married couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were accused of spying for the Soviet Union, passing on top-secret files revealing the U.S.A.’s nuclear weapon designs. They were both convicted and sentenced to death, which raised a massive, global movement protesting against their execution. Their insistence that they were not guilty didn’t help their case, especially when Ethel’s brother, also accused of espionage, made a plea bargain, sending both Ethel and Julius to the electric chair in June 1953.
The famous prosecutor, Roy Cohen, played a leading role in this tragedy.
Written and directed by: Rhea Leman
Music: Joachim Holbek
Singers: Liv Oddveig Midtmageli, Jakob Block Jespersen
Musicians: Peter Møllerhøj, Live Johansson, Heidrun Petersen
Set design and Costumes: Rhea Leman
Dramaturg: Kate Snodgrass
Written and directed by: Rhea Leman
Music: Joachim Holbek
Singers: Liv Oddveig Midtmageli, Jakob Block Jespersen
Musicians: Peter Møllerhøj, Live Johansson, Heidrun Petersen
Set design and Costumes: Rhea Leman
Light design: Thomas Bek Jensen
Dramaturg: Kate Snodgrass
Photos: Ole Mortensen
****
“With the mushroom cloud as the Cold War terror emblem in the background, Ethel and Julius sing their story, so the warning signs and the thoughts about their tragic end weaves together in a narrative marked by sweetness, vulnerability, and tremendous willpower.”
Thomas Michaelsen, Politiken
“The composer Joachim Holbek has created a lymph-like flow of empathetic chamber music, and the playwright and choreographer Rhea Leman has given the two singers in The Rosenbergs a moving, almost intravenous text and movement patterns which encompass all shades of being lost, now that death has happened, and every attempt to look back reveals unbearable abysses.”
Peter Johannes Erichsen, WeekendAvisen
“The singers give a very impressive presentation in the beautifully directed musical drama, where the singing is excellent.”
Mikael Krakrup, Frederiksborg Amtsavis
