Stimmen:

"Ein wunderbar berührendes Konzert war das heute. Ich würde mir ihr Projekt überall in Deutschland wünschen.... Ein großer Schritt des aufeinander Zugehen, Raum gebend für sehr gute, junge Künstler, Orient und Okzident Musik verbindend! Und...Vielen Dank fürs Karten reservieren Liebe Grüße von Heidi Kammhuber "

"ich wollte mich bei Ihnen sehr herzlich bedanken, dass Sie unsere Kinder zu der von Ihnen geleitete Oper eingeladen haben. Wir haben den Abend sehr genossen und ich wollte Ihnen mitteilen, dass es eine sehr schöne Initiative ist, was Sie machen.

Vielen Dank nochmals!

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Tania Salinas Dipl.Psychologin pädagogische Begleitung Kinder und Familien "



"Vielen Dank für eure bewegende Musik und Darstellungen, eure Ideen und Engagement, dieses Opernprojekt solltet ihr noch oft spielen und für auch mehr "emotionales Verständnis" auf vielen Seiten werben. Unsere beiden afghanischen 8 und 10 jährigen Jungen (seit 3 Monaten nach jahrelanger Odyssee mit Familien hier angekommen) meisterten ihre erste Oper in andachtsvoller Stille und Anteilnahme und wollten mich mit den Eltern gegen Mitternacht noch ins Heim zum Tee einladen aus Dankbarkeit für diesen Abend (trotz insgesamt 3 Stunden Fahrtzeit durch Berlin, der ihnen ein Stück Würde gegeben hat. "
 

"Vielen Dank für den tollen Abend gestern!

Ich war und bin immer noch ganz begeistert von der Idee, von der schönen Musik, von den vielen talentierten, jungen Künstlern, den wunderschönen Stimmen und von der grandiosen Inszenierung. Da ich auch schon an einigen Opernprojekten teilgenommen habe, weiß ich, was neben dem Spaß auch für ein Aufwand dahintersteckt. Ganz große Klasse!

Ich hoffe, Mediterraneo wird irgendwann nochmal aufgeführt...

Liebe Grüße,  Angela Grützmacher"

"**Some words about the opera Mediterraneo**
To be honest, I don't like female voices in singing mode. So, the fact that I loved listening the singing of Celina Jiménez Haro, Stelina Apostolopoulou, and Amèlie Saadia that where part of the opera Mediterraneo says a lot about the sound quality of them. There were parts in this opera, where all of them sang together: it was spectacular!
Also the men - Iddo Bet Hallahmi, Robert Macfarlane - Tenor, and Will Kwiatkowski - were magnificent.

They all were accompanied by the "die kleine Barockband", a band founded by Matthias Haase some twelve years ago. The band members are mainly amateurs and are all great enthusiasts what makes listening to them such a pleasure that I nearly attend all of their concerts. Nope, I don't know anybody personally of this band; it's only the passion for music that links us together.
The opera itself was a pasticcio of several other Baroque opera arias. They were singing in Italian, Arabic, and English. I can tell you, all of the guests understood what the artists sang. Because Kobie Van Rensburg, who directed the opera, had set up a huge screen on the stage where he projected poetic scenes as well as the translations of the texts in the forementioned languages. Although sometimes the translation into German was to poetic to be understood at once and at other times it was a flat paraphrase; but mainly the German translation was helpful.
The stage itself was a little bit steep, so our beloved Celina, who had had an accident a few days before the premiere couldn't climb the stage. Thus Kobie decided to erect bluescreens at each side of the stage and put cameras in front of it. This way Celina, and sometimes the other singers, performed in front of the bluescreens. The recording was edited in realtime and projected on the screen on the stage. It was totally on the listerners to look at the screen or at the side to the singing artists.
This led to a constant break of the imaginary bounderies between stage and the audience area. The guests thus did not stare at a sort of snow globe, but they were requested to move at least their head according to the action outside the stage. They were so to speak part of the snow globe.
And yes, there was one scene where I found myself shivering from fear. That was, when in the second part of the opera a masked man stood in front of the audience and was singing of killing people. I cannot remember that I ever have had such an extreme reaction when watching a movie! Although this was not a nice emotion, I loved the fact that a play can trigger such feelings!
So presumably a digital version of this opera will not have the same effect, I definitely would buy a recording of Mediterraneo because of the great singers and the fantastic perfomance of the "die kleine Barockband".
Thank you all for these miraculous evenings!
(although I only could join one of the three performances)
Yours sincerely, "
Melle.