Teodor Currentzis »The Indian Queen«: Utopia Orchestra & Choir at Philharmonie Berlin

About the Event

If anyone in the music world has really managed to polarize opinion in recent years, it's probably him: Opinions about the conductor and orchestra leader Teodor Currentzis vary between “Messiah of the classical music scene”, “mannerist” (both BR‐Klassik) and “genius” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), but this should hardly bother the self‐confident Greek — on the contrary. Concerts under Currentzis are not just concerts, but experiences of a particularly evocative kind.

In 2022, Currentzis fulfilled a dream when he founded a new orchestra, “Utopia”. The members come together from various international orchestras for “Utopia” concerts on a project‐by‐project basis. This is also the case for the 2023 Salzburg Festival and a concert performance of Henry Purcell's semi‐opera (a special form of English Baroque opera in the 18th century) “The Indian Queen”. Currentzis has created a version of this work, which is set in Central America and deals with fictional conflicts between the Aztecs and Incas in a prologue and five acts, together with director Peter Sellars, which supplements the original score with songs, arias and sacred choral pieces by Purcell and places them in a new setting. Using passages from Rosario Aguilar's novel “La niña blanca y los pájaros sin pies” (“The White Girl and the Birds without Feet”), the British‐French actress Amira Casar narrates the story of the Spanish conquest of Central America from the perspective of three women.

The story of their fate can be heard in the Philharmonie in February — “a touching and stirring experience that is unlikely to leave anyone cold” (BR‐Klassik).