"Myth of Prometheus" at the 71st Bayreuth Festival of Young Artists

"Mythos Prometheus", the ambitious lighthouse project of the 71st Festival of Young Artists Bayreuth, was performed as a world premiere twice last week in front of a full house in the Europasaal of the Youth Cultural Centre Bayreuth, Das Zentrum, and was enthusiastically celebrated by the audience. In the first half of the concert, the audience experienced striking excerpts from Carl Orff's monumental work "Prometheus". In the second part, they were able to enjoy the fascinating world premiere of "Prometheus Unbound" by composer Prof. Fredrik Schwenk, Hamburg.

This unique project dealt with the mythical figure of Prometheus from today's perspective and told, also musically, an extraordinary story. Prometheus, the "man-builder, fire-bringer and rebel," has been seen for millennia as a symbolic figure of civilizational progress and rebellion against the gods. In his struggle for truth, he was carried by the unleashing forces of the orchestra, which, under the direction of Prof. Robin Engelen, used numerous instruments from non-European cultures to accompany and amplify the fates of the protagonists with a new kind of music.
            In contrast to Aeschylus' drama of the bound Prometheus, on the basis of which Orff conceived his music theatre written between 1963 and 1966, Prof. Schwenk's composition is based on the lyrical drama "Prometheus Unbound" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), first printed in London in 1820. From this idealized type of the benefactor, from whom Shelley removes everything satanic, in turn emerges a current socio-critical interpretive approach that questions early Romantic idealism. Schwenk’s composition traced this, adding a new chapter to the more than two thousand years of updating the myth of Prometheus, dealing with an unleashed Prometheus.
            Director Michaela Dicu turned the Titan into an outlaw and whistleblower who stylizes himself as a victim. Lighting designer Michael Kantrowitsch succeeded in effectively staging these ideas with his lighting effects. Baritone Georgios Iatrou as Prometheus and Jupiter, soprano Caroline Adler as Io, Mother Earth and Apollo, and baritone James Young as Okeanos and Demogorgon received much applause. Dr. Thomas Rösch, director of the Orff-Zentrum Munich, was impressed by the more than successful realization of the excerpts from Orff's "Prometheus" and the new composition by Prof. Fredrik Schwenk, which was entirely in the spirit of Carl Orff. The visitors thanked the artists with a standing ovation for a magnificent performance.

Caption:
Thunderous final applause for the ensemble of "Mythos Prometheus". Front from left: Caroline Adler, soprano; Robin Engelen, conductor; James Young, baritone; Michaela Dicu, director; Georgios Iatrou, baritone; Fredrik Schwenk, composer. Photo: Astrid Loos