Solaris, A New Opera

July 18, 2012 5:41 AM

Solaris, a new opera by German composer Detlev Glanert, to a libretto by Reinhard Palm based on the novel (previously) by Stanislaw Lem (previously), has its world premiere today at the Festspielhaus, Bregenz. [More inside]

Lem's novel was of course made into films by Andrey Tarkovsky (previously) and Steven Soderbergh. The opera's world premiere, with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Choir, can be streamed on Operacast (scroll down).

Glanert's Sinfonia No. 1.

posted by Eyebeams (8 comments total)

If Julie Taymor had staged this, cast members would have drowned.
posted by Egg Shen at 5:44 AM on July 18, 2012

Mindblowing - thank you for the post.
posted by ruelle at 6:09 AM on July 18, 2012

So Lem, who wrote at the farther point possible from "space opera" within the universe of SF, has fathered a space opera.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:13 AM on July 18, 2012 [6 favorites]

So, how do we listen to it? Or was it live?
posted by cthuljew at 6:27 AM on July 18, 2012

cthuljew - You can stream it today at 1:30 p.m. ET at the Operacast cast link in the OP.
posted by Eyebeams at 6:52 AM on July 18, 2012

Ah, right after I go to bed. Excellent!
posted by cthuljew at 7:33 AM on July 18, 2012

Stanislaw Lem was brilliant. Not sure where or whether to post this, but in the previous MF thread on him I found this essay he wrote on Philip K. Dick -- it's brilliant. Best piece of literary criticism I've ever read on SF.
posted by zipadee at 8:14 AM on July 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

But, is it a libretto based on the latest translations? I only listen to librettos based on latest, critically accepted translations.
posted by clvrmnky at 12:03 PM on July 18, 2012