ELLA MILCH-SHERIFF
composer
Der Ewige Fremde
The Eternal Wanderer
for actor and orchestra
based on a poem by Joshua Sobol
Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig
Eli Dasnker, actor
Omer Meir Wellber, conductor
World Premiere commissioned by
Gewandhaus Orchester
https://www.gewandhausorchester.de/en/schedule/d/2020-02-18/
ELLA
MILCH SHERIFF
F E A T U R E D R E V I E W S
"Der ewige Fremde"/Teatro Massimo, Palermo, 4-5 July 2020
The eternal stranger of (directed by) Wellber is enchanting.
A hymn to the human mercy on stage.
A stranger, the solitude, the isolation and around him a language that does not communicate, the sense of unsurpassed hostility in this Monodrama, acquire the vibrations, the impetus, the rhythmic mobility and the strong ignitions that Ella Milch-Sheriff pours out of her musical world, oriental , with a motion at times of a dramatic march and with strong expressive accents. Wellber, with the awareness of an already thoughtful familiarity, affects the dynamism with expressiveness in the arcs of which the bows and violins in the foreground outline weaves of significant changeability. And, almost without noticing , the passage reveals the Choir on the stage with the quartet of the soloists at the tables on the back of the Hall for the Beethovenian Mass.
The Banality of Love" – Opera by Ella Milch-Sheriff
Libretto: Savyon Liebrecht. Stage Director: Itay Tiran
World premiere: 27 January 2018, Regensburg, Germany
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 1 February, 2018, Achim Heidenreich
"The Banality of Love": Ella Milch-Sheriff has created with virtuosity, a merciless opera about the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger."
"With the world premiere of the opera "The Banality of Love" by the Israeli composer Ella Milch-Sheriff, the Regensburg Theater courageously presents an uplifting and disturbing journey, often ironic, about the rift in German-Jewish relations."
"It is a virtuoso operatic evening that raises questions that are not easy to answer."
Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 28 January, 2018, Eva-Elisabeth Fischer
"The Banality of Love", Ella Milch-Sheriff's superb opera about the relationship between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger is premiered in Regensburg with great success."
"A Herculean undertaking which wins a grandiose success: The opera, commissioned and premiered at the Regensburg Theater, staged by the Israeli Itay Tiran which is marked by periodic reminders and is full of expressionistic touches."
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/urauffuehrung-auf-der-anklagebank-1.3843694
Opernwelt, 1 March 2018, MICHAEL STALLKNECHT
A world premiere of elemental power.
In a tight dramaturgy, "The Banality of Love" condenses events on two ever-interlinking time-planes.
Seldom have you seen theater images like that.
Such haunting theatricality is also expressed by the music.
Intensive cantilenas. Transparent orchestration.
https://www.der-theaterverlag.de/free/artikel/milch-sheriff-banalitaet-liebe-poesie-des-schreckens/
DIE DEUTSCHE BÜHNE Michaele Schabel, 30. January, 2018
"The Regensburg premiere of Ella Milch-Sheriff's opera "The Banality of Love" is much more than a banal love story. It aims at the lower level of human existence with all its distortions, becomes a metaphor for a sociopolitical turn of events, and thanks to the great music, the rich libretto and the exciting staging, it is a very special operatic experience."
Radio Bavaria, Peter Jungblut, 28 January, 2018
"What an achievement! The Israeli composer Ella Milch-Sheriff really created a big hit to a libretto by Savyon Liebrecht - their courage was rewarded, and courage is necessary for an opera about the philosopher Martin Heidegger and the sociologist Hannah Arendt."
"Musically, these were two hours of extraordinary pleasure"
"The premier, which was enriching and inspiring, won a standing ovation. I have no idea whether there was love between Heidegger and Arendt - but there was definitely music!"
https://br24.de/nachrichten/lachen-mit-heidegger-die-banalitaet-der-liebe-in-regensburg,Qhz4R16
E V E N T S
APRIL
16
Contrapunctus XIV by
J.S. Bach from "The Art of Fugue",
Orchestration by Ella Milch-Sheriff
Stockholm Radio Symphony Orchestra
Omer Meir Wellber, conductor
Berwaldhallen, Stockholm
May
28
"ABSCHIED"
for Soprano and Orchestra
Text: Else Lasker-Schueler
Rebecca Nelsen, Soprano
Bochumer Symphoniker
Steven Sloane, conductor
Bochum, Germany
"The Banality of Love", opera by Ella Milch-Sheriff, Libretto: Savyon Liebrecht. Staging: Itay Tiran
Review, Norman Lebrecht, 25 February, 2018
http://slippedisc.com/2018/02/two-philosophers-make-war-not-love-in-an-opera/