Premiere 22.09.2022 Park Avenue Armory New York

Diirector Claus Guth with Jonas Kaufmann and pianist Helmut Deutsch

Based on Schwanengesang (Swan Song), composed in 1828 in Franz Schubert‘s final days. Named for the last song “Der Doppelgänger,” in which a soldier sees themselves and comes to terms with the reality that they did not return from war, this Armory commission beautifully explores the hunger for life and its beauty and the idea that death is not a sudden moment but a last journey.

Photo credit: Monika Rittershaus