Wednesday out of light - schedule, program & buy tickets

An Opera in a Greeting, Four Scenes, and a Farewell
Music and libretto by Karlheinz Stockhausen
World premiere on October 23 and 30, 2003, on SWR2 radio
Staged premiere on August 22, 2012, in Birmingham
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on September 19, 2026

Introduction: 75 minutes before the start of each performance in the Rang Foyer on the right
Language: In German with German and English surtitles
Running time: 4 hours / including two intermissions after approximately 40 minutes and approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes
Recommended for ages 14 and up
Additional Information Please note: Stroboscopes are used in the production *Mittwoch aus Licht*. 

To mark the start of its new artistic directorship, the Deutsche Oper Berlin is embarking on a project that breaks boundaries and opens up new horizons: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s *Mittwoch aus Licht* can be experienced for the first time as a staged opera production in the German-speaking world. In his monumental cycle *LICHT. The Seven Days of the Week*, the sound visionary Stockhausen creates nothing less than a cosmic world theater exploring man and woman, good and evil, birth and death. While other parts of the cycle focus on the struggle between conflicting forces—whose polarity shapes our lives anew every day—*Mittwoch* celebrates the utopia of love and spiritual connection in the spirit of music—and the belief that community and solidarity are possible. Stockhausen was uncompromising in his search for a new kind of music; he is considered one of the most innovative—but also one of the most controversial—composers of the 20th century. This pioneer of electronic music has also inspired pop music across all genre boundaries, from Kraftwerk to Björk. The spectacular centerpiece of *Wednesday of Light* is the Helicopter String Quartet. Here, Stockhausen expands the musical space beyond the theater: the members of a string quartet sit in four helicopters circling high above the audience. The sounds of the strings mingle with the noise of the rotor blades and are sent down from lofty heights into the auditorium. For our production, the quartet will be performed live as a one-time event for the entire city; the film recording of the quartet will be incorporated into the staging. The multi-award-winning artistic duo Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg, who caused a sensation in music theater with *Einstein on the Beach* at Theater Basel and with *Parsifal* at the Antwerp Opera, will transform *Wednesday of Light* into an immersive ritual in their first opera production in Berlin. Maxime Pascal, who will serve as Principal Guest Conductor at the start of the new artistic directorship, is a connoisseur and passionate advocate of Stockhausen’s music and has already staged all parts of the *Licht* cycle except for *Mittwoch aus Licht*.

Subject to change.