Iwein Löwenritter

Iwein is young, he is strong and he is a knight – the best of the best! But he is terribly bored at King Artus’ court and so he sets out to find adventure. On his travels, he not only finds new stories but also meets Laudine, his great love. But his friend Gawein disturbs this newfound happiness by luring him back out into the world of knights’ games. They get so caught up in their fights for honour that Iwein almost loses Laudine. On the long road back to her, Iwein fights not only dragons and two-faced knights, but comes across a very special friend.

Georg-Büchner-Award-winner Felicitas Hoppe has created an intelligent and imaginative story from Hartmann von der Aue 12th century chivalric tale. It brings the large issues of honour and friendship and the fight about good and evil closer to young readers without neglecting their importance and depth. Librettist Andrea Heuser expands the story by adding the viewpoints of today’s world: It opens up a path into a magical world for the children of today – if only for a moment – and they can lose or find themselves inside it.

IWEIN LÖWENRITTER is the fifth Family Opera to be presented at Theater Bonn as part of the cooperation project Junge Opern Rhein-Ruhr. Moritz Eggert, who has composed several operas including a football-oratorio, has been commissioned to compose the music for the world premiere.