Serkowitzer Volksoper in the Saloppe: an unconventional Mozart

Mozart? Mozart is always good. Serkowitz folk opera? For those who know it, it's like Mozart, so it's always good. Well, almost always - a matter of taste. Mozart at the Serkovice Folk Opera? It's planned for this summer, on twelve dates from June 15: "It's all about the sausage - a turbulent seduction based on Mozart" is the full title. The sausage actually appears: a bratwurst is budgeted - whether per performance or for the whole season was not quite clear at the press conference, but that is probably also sausage.

The Serkowitzer Volksoper (for all newbies) is an independent music theater ensemble founded in 2011. Anyone who immediately raises their hands defensively at the word "opera" should quickly put them down again: the professionals of the Serkowitzer Volksoper are dedicated to unconventional, humorous musical theater. Classical elements in the music are mixed and rearranged quite wildly with jazz, pop or improvisation - and in addition to the boisterous art of music-making, the texts add social satire, sometimes serious, sometimes silly.

This year is already the 16th summer production - and it is a premiere in that "die Wurst" was already performed in 2015. But of course it's completely different, it's now 2026 and we're delivering old sausage in new skins. The remake has a new director in Clemens Kersten and a new musical director in Michael Schütze. So not everything is new - but everything is staged a little differently. Although the libretto by Wolf-Dieter Gööck is still relevant and the basic musical arrangement is still that of Milko Kersten.

The musical basis was provided by Mozart with The Abduction from the Seraglio. However, the six-character piece is performed by just three singers in the Serkowitz production. That makes it turbulent - including quick costume changes. "But I love this craziness: putting a piece like this on stage with three people!" says Michael Schütze. Although his orchestra "Musi nad Labem" only consists of three musicians... The special challenge is that there are "a huge number of instruments in addition to the six classical ones we have learned" - 20 in total. "It feels like there are as many as we play roles," remarks Cornelius Uhle - the baritone in the ensemble, who already knows the piece from the 15-piece version, as does Dorothea Wagner. In terms of learning the text, the two had an easier time than Fanny Lamers, who is joining the Serkowitzers for the first time.