This sounds like fun.
On May 30 and 31 employees of Munich Airport and flight crew members from four different international airlines will appear on stage at Munich’s Cuvilliés Theater to perform the global opera “This New Ocean.”
The three-act opera, which has a narrative arc described as stretching “from the earliest beginnings of humanity to the age of globalization,” starts with a video prologue filmed at Munich Airport. The roles will be sung by pilots and flight attendants from South African Airways, Lufthansa, All Nippon Airways, S7 Airlines and employees of Munich Airport and its subsidiaries.
The “Golden Record” sent out into interstellar space about 40 years ago with the Voyager probe also has a role in the opera. And, according to Munich Airport officials, the soprano soloist, Yoko Yamaguchi, is a flight attendant with All Nippon Airways when she is not singing. The solo bass role will be sung by Claus Schippan, a real estate manager with FMG. The third soloist with the cast recruited from across the aviation industry is countertenor Jan Kollmar, who works as a purser with Lufthansa. These soloists will be backed by 15 professional musicians conducted by Anton Zapf and alongside the strings led by concert master Vladimir Lakatos, the ensemble will include winds, a piano, percussion and an electric guitar.
Nélida Béjar and Björn Potulski (who works at Munich Airport) created this new opera and two years ago they also created a musical theater project called “Heavier Than Air” that featured the airport’s baggage handling employees.
Two performances of the opera will take place in Munich and all ticket proceeds will be donated to a fund to help people in need near the airport. In July the opera will be performed at the Soweto Theater. Backing the singers in the African shows for selected numbers will be a 100-voice children’s choir from Soweto.
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