IOpera: Ernst Krenek – The Dictator

The Dictator (Der Diktator) (1926)* Music and libretto by Ernst Krenek.

First performed 1928. Ensconced in the Grand Palace Hotel, the Dictator declares a needless war. The title character is loosely based on Mussolini although the story is not deliberately political; Krenek later described it as “an anecdote from the private life of the ‘strong man’. “Only from the irrational does he retreat, not so much out of fear but because he can do nothing with it, he cannot dominate it.”

The Dictator                                                                                                                  Christopher Hiller
Maria, wife of the Officer                                                                                                  Lee Abrahmsen
The Officer                                                                                                                   Robert Macfarlane
Charlotte, wife of the Dictator                                                                                          Esther Counsel

Conductor: Warwick Stengårds

*AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE

11:00 am, Sunday 23 July. Athenaeum II Theatre, Collins St, Melbourne
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