KEPLER - an opera by Philip Glass - Landestheater Linz - Linz09 DESIGN PLANS In september 2009, Peter Missotten directed ’KEPLER’ - a new opera by Philip Glass - for the Landestheater Linz and Linz09. He was also responsible for the rather radical stage design. Dennis Russell Davies conducted the Bruckner Orchestra. Martina Winkel wrote the libretto. The perpetual movement of the planets is transformed into a perpetual evolving stage in which the outside world profoundly influences the actions of the singers.
Perter Missotten designs everything from scratch in 3D software. It has the advantage of being precise from the start. On top of that: these plans have to convince through their conceptual strength, not by their graphic appeal. Although I sometimes use the graphic trickery build into SKetchUp Pro, to convince the production house…
For Kepler by Philip Glass: the stage was largely designed before the score was finished, even before the libretto was finalised… In a first version, there was a huge rockaby tribune for the choir, which was cancelled before the set was build. The center piece: a huge light fixture - the Sun - with seven SOX lamps (Low pressure Sodium), was build in the atelier of Peter Missotten himself. The set itself was entirely build from steel tubes and real copper cladding.
Some images from the light rehearsal (with stand-inns).
