On 25 January, Titus Engel conducted the world premiere of Michael Wertmüller's opera Echo 72. Israel in Munich, which can be seen in a production stage directed by Lydia Steier's at the Hanover State Opera until the end of February.
Eleven Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In his new opera Echo 72: Israel in Munich, Michael Wertmüller traces the events of 5 September 1972 and the emotional atmospheres between playful competition and chaos and anxiety.
"In the end, the words are silent, the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester under Titus Engel, who can conduct such music like no other, and Steamboat Switzerland deliver an instrumental, negative apotheosis, which in its very wordlessness means all horrors," enthused the Süddeutsche Zeitung after the premiere, and Die Deutsche Bühne wrote: "The fact that, after an interruption due to a technical defect, the evening also got back on track musically is thanks to the strong-nerved and brilliantly coordinating conductor Titus Engel, who precisely led and impulsively animated the huge ensemble, the agile orchestra and the magnificent chorus."
Titus Engel will conduct six performances of the opera with the Hanover State Opera Chorus, the Hanover State Orchestra of Lower Saxony and the Steamboat Switzerland ensemble until the end of February. The trio, which combines jazz, rock, metal and improvisation with contemporary composed music, has already collaborated with Titus Engel and Michael Wertmüller on the opera projects Weine nicht, singe at the Hamburg State Opera (2015) and Diodati. Unendlich at the Basel Theatre (2019).
Titus Engel has also worked successfully with director Lydia Steier: Stockhausen's Donnerstag was staged at the Theater Basel in 2016; the production was named performance of the year by Opernwelt magazine.
