O! A Biography
Eva-Maria Schaller’s choreographic work has revolved around an emancipatory, embodied dance historiography for many years. This new major work, a contemporary opéra-ballet with a composition by Matthias Kranebitter, begins with the biography of a dancer and plunges deep into her own memories on and behind the stage. Fragments of opera scenes, deposits of ballet sequences, fluid forms of movement and narratives for individual and collective reassessment can be found there. If the body is the archive of a dancing life, it is a chaotic one made up of a great many fragments, perspectives and fantastic realities that go beyond the time horizon of an individual life. Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Schaller is looking for the utopia of a biography that extends beyond time, place and the social apparatus of gender production in O! A Biography. The kaleidoscopic dance through the centuries clearly shows: “As a dancer, I am many.”
In collaboration with Wien Modern
Artist Talk following the performance on Sat 16.11., theatre scholar Stefan Hulfeld in conversation with participants in the production. In German. The talk will be translated into Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS).
is a dancer, teacher and choreographer from Vienna. Her works deal with the history of women in dance, in particular with the legacy of Austrian modern dance, with passing on and embodied memory. The solo Recalling Her Dance – a choreographic encounter with Hanna Berger (2021) with composer Matthias Kranebitter and the group piece FEMENINE (2022) with Studio Dan were presented at Tanzquartier Wien and ImPulsTanz, among others. In the Netherlands, Schaller worked with Anouk van Dijk and Emio Greco; in Austria with Christine Gaigg, Georg Blaschke, Liz King, Willi Dorner, Nikolaus Adler, Sabine Glenz and with Andrea Amort. In 2023 she completed the MA New performative practices at the Stockholm University of the Arts.
studied electroacoustic composition and media composition in Vienna and composition in Amsterdam and Graz. His music addresses aspects of our media society with its flood of information and is characterized by a high degree of density and heterogeneity. Kranebitter works increasingly with electronics and new media. He received the Berlin Scholarship of the Akademie der Künste Berlin 2015/16, the Erste Bank Composition Prize 2020 and the Ernst Krenek Prize 2022, among others. Kranebitter is co-founder of the Unsafe+Sounds Festival and artistic director of the Black Page Orchestra.
is a Spanish conductor appointed Associate Fellow by the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship in 2022. Since then, she has regularly assisted Marin Alsop with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. She has conducted the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, the Johannesburg Philharmonic and the KZN Philharmonic, among others. In 2025, Delgado-Jiménez, also the artistic director of Thalassa Orchestra, will debut at the Musikverein’s Goldener Saal with the Tonkünstler Orchester.
is an ensemble founded in Vienna in 2014 for radical and uncompromising music of our time. Its name was inspired by Frank Zappa’s composition the black page, a piece whose score has an almost black page due to its high density of notes. In addition to this aesthetic approach, the ensemble focuses on works that artistically incorporate electronics, video and various current technologies in particular, as well as compositions that go far beyond a conventional classical concert situation due to their performative character. Experimental and versatile programming is an essential concern of the collective.
countertenor, is a specialist in baroque gestures and Meyerhold’s biomechanics. In the 2023/24 season, he appeared on stage at both Dresden State Theatres: at the Schauspielhaus as Lucy(us) in Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera and at the Semperoper as La Speranza in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Other roles include Prince Gogo in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and the title role in Handel’s Orlando. In 2023, Bochow appeared in two world premieres: as Rosenstern in Sarah Nemtsov’s Ophelia at the Saarländisches Staatstheater and as Prometheus in Matthias Kranebitter’s Pandora at the Musiktheatertage Wien.
is a Nigerian-born, British-raised dancer, singer/songwriter, and choreographer. He has been a choreographer at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Stadt Theater Hannover, Stadt Theater Bremen, Schauspielhaus Dresden, and Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf. He has been Michael Keegan Dolan’s company Teac Damsa’s rehearsal and tour director for several years on a worldwide tour of the multi-award-winning works Swan Lake / Loch na hEala and MAM. He is currently touring as a performer in Doris Uhlich’s performance Gootopia, Samuel Feldhandler’s Georges Tremble and a solo work ME – NMU – AMI, made with Willi Dorner.
Credits
Concept, choreography, performance Eva-Maria Schaller Composition Matthias Kranebitter Performance Mani Obeya Countertenor Georg Bochow Students of the MUK dance programme Anna Cimmino, Clarissa Beisteiner, Claudia Antonica, Gina Lou Remund, Gloria Marie-Elaine Berghäuser, Helena Vancura, Jessy Yang, Leah Pauline Wagner, Michael Voit, Mireia Miltner, Paola Floreani, Polina Samoidiuk Black Page Orchestra Elena Gabbrielli (flute), Maria Magdalena Puschnig (oboe), Teresa Doblinger (clarinets), Jason Pfiester (horn) Pablo Marin‐Reyes (trombone), Alfredo Ovalles (keyboard), Igor Gross (percussion), Fani Vovoni (violin), Eirini Krikoni (violin), Rafal Zalech (viola), Irene Frank (violoncello), Philipp Kienberger (double bass), Matthias Kranebitter (live electronics), Christina Bauer (sound director) Dramaturgy Anita Buchart Choreographic assistants, rehearsal directors Laura Vilar, Albert Cissello Set design Gabriela Neubauer, Helena Sophia Adam Light design Jan Wagner Production management Julia Haas, Sophie Menzinger Production choreographic signatures Co-production Tanzquartier Wien, Wien Modern Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, and SKE-Austro Mechana Cooperation partners Black Page Orchestra, Contemporary Dance and Ballet programme at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK)
In English
The performance on Sat 16.11. will be translated into Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) by Anna Gravogl and Marietta Gravogl. To reserve seats with optimal view of the ÖGS translation, please register in advance at trauter@tqw.at.