Winterreise
after the work of the same name by Schubert / Müller

© Michal Novak
Xavier Sabata
countertenor
countertenor

© Berta Tiana
Francisco Poyato
piano
piano

© Javier del Real
Rafael R. Villalobos
concept, set design, lights and stage direction
concept, set design, lights and stage direction
Composed on poems from the cycle Poems from the Posthumous papers of a Travelling Horn-players: Songs of Life and Love (1824) by the poet Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827) - including the first series of twelve poems published under the title The Winter Journey in 1823 - Winterreise (1827, first version; 1828, complete cycle) is the summit of the genre of Lieder and of the musical output of Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828).
In this production premiered at the DxM (dramma per musica), a cycle of experimental musical theater, Sevillian director Rafael R. Villalobos takes on the challenge of staging this seemingly anti-theatrical, though intensely dramatic, cycle in a reading inspired by the theater of Samuel Beckett, exploring the depths of the human soul. A man sits, patiently waiting for a lover who abandoned him some time back, at the start of an emotional tour de force for the performer who, through music, sets out on a personal winter journey in search of himself and acceptance of loneliness, inviting us to reflect on one of the great taboos of our society: mental health.
© Elisenda Canals
“(…) a highly conceptual creation, wich became stranger as it progressed, and which, with a minimal set, constructed a vision that explored the desolation of the work (…) The intense darkness and careful, deliberate, lighting contributed towards the creation of an oppressive atmosphere in an attempt to present this well-known piece under another light.” (Operaactual)
© Óscar Romero
performances
- 11.2019 at Espacio Turina, Sevilla (premiere)
- 03.2021 at CaixaForum, Barcelona
- 10.2021 at CaixaForum, Zaragoza
- 10.2021 at CaixaForum, Madrid
- 10.2021 at CaixaForum, Sevilla
- 10.2021 at CaixaForum, Palma de Mallorca
- 03.2022 at Teatro Villamarta, Jérez