Hans Thomalla
Photo Sergio Verde
Opera in 13 Scenes
first performance February 29 2024
Nationaltheater Mannheim
"Musically and dramaturgically an absolutely convincing evening."
"Opera at the cutting edge as it is rarely found".
Deutschlandfunk
"A very, very important piece."
SWR
"Since opera is a genre about individually pronounced changes in one's condition, it must be interested in dementia. There aren't many examples for this yet, but Hans Thomalla's "Dark Fall" will be a decisive one."
Frankfurter Rundschau
"Extremely touching!"
Deutschlandfunk
"Estelle Kruger is with both her wonderfully rich soprano for which Thomalla has written the most beautiful emphatic melodies as well as with her performance as Ellen the center of the show."
Die Deutsche Bühne
Dark Spring
Opera in 11 Scenes after Frank Wededekind's
"Frühlingserwachen"
Lyrics by Joshua Clover
Nationaltheater Mannheim 2020
“a finger on the pulse of modern issues”
“an aching, sometimes disturbing work”
Musical America
“From the downbeat the mastery of orchestration that Thomalla wields is evident. The composition, execution, and performance are unparalleled.”
Music City Review
"This avowed song-opera goes like a bolted arrow directly into the listener’s heart"
The Whole Note
“I want to go over the meadows in the twilight…” sings Wendla (Lavi) in another of those moments where Thomalla allows a voice to shine, and to a melodic line whose beauty goes on after the closing bars."
Opera Wire
Dark Spring
Nationaltheater Mannheim
Dark Spring CD on Oehms / Classical
and on Spotify / Apple Music