Opera in three acts and one epiloque

The nose suddenly disappears from Major Kovaljov’s face and then reappears in the shape of a state councillor. His own »nose« has by far more power than he has himself and does not seem to know him any more. Curiosity and fear grows among the people of St. Petersburg: Kovaljov’s nose, so they say, has been seen in the city. Something sinister, satanic is spreading like a disease that can only be controlled through terror by a blundering police force.

Already depicted in Gogol’s novel as a grotesquely distorted image of a faceless and fearful society, Dmitri Shostakovitsh’s (1906-75) untamed music makes this topic more penetrating and intensive. Powerful hammering rhythms, piercing exaggerations and the tempting sounds of orthodox church music create an absurdly fantastic stage production that had its 1930 premiere in Leningrad and is a rarity on the opera stage. At that time Shostakovitsh belonged to the circle of young soviet avant-garde artists and a few years later created his better known opera »Lady Mcbeth of Mzensk« (1963 new version as »Katarina Ismailova«).

Alfred Kirchner produced at Europe’s most famous opera houses, e.g. in Vienna, Amsterdarn and Berlin and apart from countless classics also staged many premieres, such as productions by Martin Walser, Herbert Achternbusch, Thomas Bernhard, Heiner Müller and Peter Turrini. He was invited to many important festivals and guest performances abroad and in 1994 he produced Richard Wagner’s »Ring des Nibelungen« at the Bayreuth Festival.