Ramsey Nasr . Muziektheater Transparant

If you saw the highly acclaimed production 'Il Re Pastore' (2002) you will be familiar with the writer and director Ramsey Nasr's passion for Mozart. Together with the composer Wim Henderickx he has now made an adaptation of Mozart's opera 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail'. They respect the original 'Singspiel', but their approach is different. Here and there Wim Henderickx adds new music and Ramsey Nasr reshapes the libretto. 'Een totale Entführung' will have its world premiere at deSingel and provides a festive opening for the season. The story is set in 'the East' at the court of the Turkish pasha. The young Spanish nobleman Belmonte wants to free his beloved Konstanze, her maid Blonde and the servant Pedrillo from the hands of Bassa Selim. This is the starting shot for a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, unrequited love and unfulfilled desires. For its adapters, the opera is more than a comic-romantic vocal work in an oriental setting. In their view it is about the image Orientals and Westerners have of each other and of themselves. The cast includes major actors such as Jan Decleir and Els Dottermans as well as a dazzling set of wonderful young singers. 'Mozart's work is a quest for what is real and what is fake, what is reality and what is an image', says Ramsey Nasr. The diffuse world the young director visits challenges you to decide for yourself what is real.