»Curtain, and Hello!«

Australia and Europe, queerness and Judaism, pop culture and opera stage – in »Curtain, and Hello!«, Barrie Kosky, the celebrated opera director and expert juggler of irreconcilable contradictions, lets us partake in his extraordinary life. Born and raised in Australia, 15,000 kilometres from Europe, the birthplace of opera, he discovered his love for this artform early on. How did that happen? How do those two worlds fit together? What connects musical theatre, Barrie Kosky’s childhood and adolescence in Australia and his career in the European artistic epicentres?

Seven characters from the world of musical theatre shed light on this and through exploring them we delve into the biography of the world-renowned opera director, into his way of thinking, his experiences and imaginations, his relationships with the different operas, their creators and protagonists and in turn get to know them from Kosky’s unique perspective.

»With a sense for wonderful combinations Barrie Kosky talks cheerfully about his life and about working on his opera productions.« Stephan Speicher, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

»There’s no other way to put it: Barrie Kosky is hot, hot, hot at the moment. Nowhere else is highbrow culture as open and adventurous as it is in the neo-rococo plush of the old Metropol Theatre.« Die Welt

»A sophisticated and yet entertaining autobiography« Julia Meyer-Hermann, DONNA

»Those who believe that opera is a venerable and rather boring affair don’t know Kosky.« Tip Berlin

»By giving the Komische Oper in Berlin a new identity, Kosky has written theatre history bother as intendant and director.« Die deutsche Bühne