The Metamorphosis
Opera by Gordon Kampe and Philipp Löhle (world premiere)
One morning, Gregor Samsa wakes up as a beetle, and nothing is as it was before. With *The Metamorphosis*, Franz Kafka created a work that has become deeply ingrained in the cultural consciousness. Few texts of the 20th century have so powerfully exposed the ills of modernity—alienation and isolation. Now this literary masterpiece of the century is being adapted into an opera.
What makes Gordon Kampe’s opera unique is its consistent shift in perspective. It is based on Philipp Löhle’s stage adaptation, in which the focus is not on Gregor Samsa’s view from inside the room, but on the events unfolding on the other side of the door. We witness the father, mother, sister, and maid gradually distancing themselves from the transformed Gregor, and how a non-person and a non-place emerge within the same apartment. For this “Metamorphosis,” Gordon Kampe creates a fast-paced, catchy composition interwoven with a whimsical-sounding beetle quartet.
We will open the 2026/27 season with the world premiere of this new opera, in which the power of literature combines with musical sophistication and a compelling visual world to create a total work of art.
19:00
)