Pinocchios Abenteuer

INSTRUMENTAL COMEDY

FOR SOPRANO AND FIVE MUSICIANS (2015)

MUSIC by

TEXT AFTER

Carlo Collodi, German translation by Karin Dietrich

For children of 6 years upwards

On his journey from animated wooden doll to a real boy of flesh and blood, Pinocchio must survive numerous adventures in which his courage is tested as well as his loyalty to his father, the woodcarver Geppetto. In doing so, he has to defend himself against some dangerous characters such as the greedy Fox and Cat, a shady circus ringmaster and even a Giant Fish.

Pinocchio learns the hard way that excessive lying makes his nose grow impractically long, and that laziness, truancy and a stay in the paradisiacal Land of Idleness can have evil consequences. The mysterious fairy with the dark-blue hair is constantly by his side, repeatedly rescuing him and finally returning him to his long-lost father. The Italian composer Lucia Ronchetti, whose musical theatre works »Last desire«, »Lezioni di tenebra« and »Rivale« have already been performed at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, wrote her children’s opera »Pinocchio’s Adventures« in 2015 for the Ensemble intercontemporain. She adhered closely to the 1883 original version of Carlo Collodi’s classic book to write the libretto. In accordance with her idea of instrumental theatre, the music and acting are interwoven in a special way: a singer embodies the main character, while two puppeteers and five instrumentalists slip into the numerous secondary characters of the story.