Malte Roesner to star in German adaptation of Heggie opera

Barihunk Malte Roesner and actor Joost Leers

Barihunk Malte Roesner will be performing in the German language premiere of Jake Heggie's chamber opera For a Look or a Touch at the Staatstheater Braunschweig opening on May 2nd.

Based on the true story of two teenage lovers that the Holocaust tore apart forever, the dramatic song cycle For a Look or a Touch casts light on the fate of gay Germans in the Holocaust. The libretto, written by Heggie's frequent collaborator Gene Scheer, juxtaposes the exuberant freedom of pre-World War II Berlin with the brutal Nazi horrors that followed, while making an impassioned plea for remembrance.

Coming out of retirement to portray Gad Beck, an eighty year old gay survivor of the Holocaust, is famed German actor Jost Leers.  Gad Beck is an 80-year-old survivor of the Holocaust who is haunted by the memories of his first love Manfred, who died in a concentration camp at age 19.

The piece will be performed along with Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Another Sunrise, a 17-minute music drama performed by chamber quintet and soprano. The two Heggie pieces with be performed with  Ilse, the story Ilse Koch, the wife of a camp commandant at Buchenwald, with text taken from the original trials.