Das Floß der Medusa / The Raft of the Medusa

The RIAS Chamber Choir from West Berlin refused to sing as long as a Che poster and a red flag were hanging from the conductor’s rostrum. Left-wing students chanted »Ho-Ho-Ho-Chi-Minh«, and even more extreme lefties demonstrated against the bourgeois event and against Henze himself, whom they called a »salon communist«. The police reacted harshly, and the ensuing fracas caused the concert to be cancelled.

Not until 2001 did the oratorio finally get its Hamburg premiere under Ingo Metzmacher. And now the scandalous piece can be heard with a prominent cast at the Elbphilharmonie: Artist in Residence Peter Eötvös as conductor of the SWR Symphonieorchester, baritone Peter Schoene and soprano Camilla Nylund.

Change of artist: Matthias Goerne has regretfully been forced to cancel his participation in the performance of Hans Werner Henze’s oratorio »The Raft of Medusa« with the SWR Symphonieorchester at the Elbphilharmonie on 17 November due to illness. Peter Schoene steps in to sing the baritone part.

Peter Schoene made his operatic debut at the Komische Oper Berlin. Since then the brilliant baritone has established his national and international reputation as concert, opera and lieder singer. As soloist, Schoene has sung almost every role of his discipline in more than 20 opera houses. A keen proponent of 20th and 21st century music, Peter has worked extensively with composers such as Moritz Eggert, Wilhelm Killmayer, Aribert Reimann and Wolfgang Rihm.