Rolf Riehm’s Sirenen – Bilder des Begehrens und des Vernichtens will be premiered at Oper Frankfurt on September 14, 2014. Nothing can be presented accurately in one format alone, the composer argues, so he has written an opera that tends toward installation, a plot in solitary images, music with sampling technique. More in our interview.

Rolf Riehm, how did you get into music?
My parents were musicians as well. One of my liveliest childhood memories is me sitting next to my father who used to play Liszt, Chopin, and Brahms for hours and hours. I grew up on virtuoso piano music. That was my first musical Eldorado. It was much later when Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven got through to me.

What is your inspiration?
I like to think of myself as a composer stimulated by political events and conditions. But right now while saying this, on the internet I’m witnessing the protest on the Taksim Square in Istanbul. That’s not a heated up poster holding and slogan shouting mass. Instead it’s just a fragmented gathering of people standing there in silence like figures by Stephan Balkenhol.

Statements or appeals are not as important anymore. Today the political attitude has become part of the artifact itself. As a composer I’m imbedded in a historic context, whether I like that or not. I want to use that as an inspiration for my compositions.

Who are your role models among directors in the theatre world?
There are some movie directors that had a strong impact on me, directors like Godard (Passion), Passolini (Teorema, Accatone, Il vangelo secondo Matteo), Bertolucci, Billy Wilder (my favorite!). Speaking of theatres, the early works of Robert Wilson really do impress me; and also Christoph Nel (Salome) through his staging of Tristan and Isolde I finally realized what a phenomenal lyricist Wagner actually was, Achim Freyer (Handel’s Ariodante), Jürgen Gosch (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Heiner Goebbels with his theatrical shift towards visuals.

How would you describe your own aesthetic in music theater?
At the moment I’m working on my opera Sirenen – Bilder des Begehrens und des Vernichtens, which will be premiered in Frankfurt. The narrative focal point is the saga The Odyssey, with Odysseus trying to impress the Phaeacian aristocracy with his adventures. Above all, the encounter with the goddess Circe and the beautifully singing but deadly Sirens resonate with audiences. Circe is fascinating because she madly adores Odysseus although he left her and her island with a flimsy excuse; and the Sirens because they lure the passing seamen with deadly force only to kill them in a masquerade of beauty and passion.

I want the musicians to be infected by the passion I put into my work, and I’d like them to discover something new about themselves. Concerning the audience, I’d like to see the audience being carried away by the story and the music just as it happened to Circe, the Sirens, and Odysseus. Last, but not least, I’d be delighted if the immediate presence of my music made clear that: Circe, the Sirens, Odysseus - these are all mythological characters, but in principle they are representations of us being threatened with drowning in conflicts of love, desire, treason, farewell, and death.

Rolf Riehm: Work list