Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen - Schedule, Program & Tickets

Who has not dreamed of experiencing exciting adventures in a distant fantasy realm? Our family opera at Christmas time is going into the second round and makes exactly that possible. With Oliver Knussen's Where the wild guys live, a work is on the program this year that has carried young and all alike since its premiere in 1980. It is based on the bestseller by Maurice Sendak - a picture book that almost completely dispenses with text. The boy Max quarrels with his mother, but instead of sticking to the house arrest he has been ordered, he sets off on a journey to a distant island... In order to shape an opera libretto from it, Sendak let his ingenuity fly and invented things like for the wild things , who await Max on the island, have their own language. Oliver Knussen was inspired by this to create what is probably his most adventurous score: It whistles, squeaks, glitters, shines, seduces and dances so easily that it is a joy. Knussen was guided by the music that had influenced him as a teenager. For this firework of ideas we have invited the director and puppetry virtuoso Nikolaus Habjan.

In German with German surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of the performance on December 16, 17 and 27

musical direction
Stephan Zilias

staging
Nikolaus Habjan

stage
Jacob Brossman

costume
Denise Heschl

Light
Franz Tscheck

dramaturgy
Christian Schröder

puppetry coach
Manuela Linshalm

cooperation stage
Marlene Lübke-Ahrens

Collaboration costume
Nicola Gördes

Max
Jasmin Delfs

Mom / Tzippie
Katrin Wundsam

Bearded and Goat Guy
Peter Kirk

bugger
Zoltán Nagy

cock guy
Matthias Hoffmann

bull guy
Martin Summer

Puppeteer
Angelo Konzett

Anderson Pinheiro da Silva
Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Subject to change.