Promenade opera about student revolution - bang on time!

Welsh National Youth Opera are putting on Kommilitonen! (Young Blood) by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. This is an elctrifying documentary opera about young people and politics in the twentieth century.

The piece weves together the stories of victims and aggressors from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the unique life of James Meredith - the first African American to be accepted into the University of Mississippi in 1962, and the students of the Weisse Rose movement from 1940's Munich, who wrote and distributed pamphlets denouncing Hitler, and were executed for their actions.

The title means "fellow students" and are the first words of the final call to arms that the Weisse Rose students wrote before they were arrested and executed in 1943. Their words are from some of Europe's darkest days - unimaginable for most of us. And yet their arguments transcend time. They astutely observe that "every people deserves the regime it is willing to endure" and outline the responsibility everyone has, to engage with politics according to their own conscience.  Their belief in a renewed Europe is particularly poignant: "Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the protection of individual citizens from the arbitrary will of criminal regimes of violence-these will be the bases of the New Europe. "

We are putting on a promenade version of this show in the historic space of the the Barry Memo. As each day goes by, this piece is becoming more relevant.

Look it up via this link

https://www.wno.org.uk/event/kommilitonen

and please come and see this show!

Views: 177

Add a Comment

You need to be a member of National Theatre Wales Community to add comments!

Join National Theatre Wales Community

image block identification

© 2024   Created by National Theatre Wales.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service