Sleepless

Adapting a short story of the same title by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, Hungarian conductor-composer Péter Eötvös, one of the most influential figures in contemporary music, wrote Sleepless on commission. He and librettist Mari Mezei interweave snapshots of the existential search for belonging, crime as a response to human indifference and the struggle with a sense of being out of place, generating a somewhat suggestive, operatic stream of consciousness. The world premiere also marks the Staatsoper Unter den Linden debut of the Hungarian film, theatre and opera director Kornél Mundruczó, well-known for cinematically realistic works that often address contemporary social themes.