What do we remember? Who and what shapes our memory? How does historical memory shape our future?
ABOUT
over and over vorbei nicht vorbei draws on historical musical material as a starting point for a bold and confrontational remix—of different musical styles and practices, past and present, German and English, the propagandistic with the avoidant, and the archival with the recombinant.
Fragments of both popular love songs and "toxic" songs from American and German pasts are combined into one narrative. In doing so, this opera interrogates the individual and collective process of remembering, bringing two cultures into a dialogue sprung from the questions: How do societies deal with violence in their past? And how do younger generations look at the crimes of their ancestors?
Hearne’s use of love songs centers “frameworks of guilt and responsibility, victim and perpetrator” while his reclamation of songs we might rather forget points to the shared humanity and yearning for lost community at their core. Building upon their acclaimed opera The Source, Hearne and Fish continue to interrogate the impact ordinary people have on the cultures of violence around them.
The first production of over and over vorbei nicht vorbei was commissioned by Komische Oper Berlin and premiered, in a production directed by Daniel Fish, at Heimathafen Neukölln, in February 2024.
Design Team
composer/conductor Ted Hearne
director Daniel Fish
associate director Mikhaela Devra Mahony
video design Jim Findlay
costume design Doey Lüthi
lighting design Thomas Dunn
sound design Garth Macaleavey
dramaturg (Berlin) Christina Runge
community engagement dramaturg (United States) Nia Easley
for 24 voice youth choir, 12 instrumentalists, 3 solo voices, and Unsettlement Band
featuring Eliza Bagg (vocalist), Isaiah Robinson (vocalist), Tom Erik Lie (vocalist), Ron Wiltrout (drums), Rohan Chander (electronics + keyboard), Taylor Levine (guitar), Solomon Dorsey (bass), and Volkalhelden (dir. Johannes David Wolff)