An international world premiere of a new opera in English took place in Leipzig. „Coming Up for Air” is a novel adaption by the Leipzig-based composer Bernd Franke. Originally from Canada, this poetic work about breath and the flow of life, was transformed into a brilliant and vivid English libretto written by the British singer and artist Jessica Walker. The first performance on 14 march 2026 was a huge success and acclaimed by critics.
The Canadian author of the original novel Sarah Leipciger herself attended the world premiere. What is her story about? Three worlds, three bodies of water, three life stories. Anouk, a young writer, follows a trail that leads from the present into another time – and into a web of stories, images and coincidences that are connected across eras and national borders. At the centre stands the “L’Inconnue de la Seine”, a mysterious unknown woman whose likeness travelled the world in the last century. While Anouk struggles for breath due to illness, she continues to research, reconstruct and delve ever deeper into the mystery of this death. A second world emerges: that of a Norwegian doll maker who creates a mannequin for practising life-saving techniques, mourning the loss of his son. In the end, everything is connected. The opera thus tells of three life paths that touch one another across time and space. The work is based on the Canadian bestseller of the same name.
Oper Leipzig made the production of „Coming Up for Air” possible through funding from the Ernst Siemens Foundation, and the following team developed it together with the librettist Jessica Walker over the course of four years – with great dedication and heartfelt commitment. Bernd Franke is among those contemporary composers whose works are regularly performed on the international stage. He has collaborated with renowned ensembles and conductors, and his music is performed around the globe: in Europe, Taiwan, Japan, the USA, Southeast Asia and India. His development was influenced by Hans Werner Henze, Leonard Bernstein and Oliver Knussen. Choirs and vocal ensembles such as Calmus and Amarcord, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Thomanerchor, as well as the Gewandhausorchester and the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, regularly perform his works. Director Florentine Klepper has worked at, among others, the Semperoper Dresden, the Oper Frankfurt, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Oper Graz and the Salzburg Easter Festival, and has been a prominent presence on major German-speaking stages for many years. Costumes are designed by Anna Sofie Tuma, and the set design is by Dirk Becker. Together, this team develops a visual language that brings the shifting interplay between present and memory, between research and imagination, between the tangible world and inner space to the stage with great precision and sensuality.
The Leipzig opera house has four more performances to offer, on 22 and 27 March, 4 and 19 April 2026. Tickets can be ordered online at www.oper-leipzig.de or via the Oper Leipzig visitor service Tuesday to Friday, 10 am–6 pm; Saturday, 12–6 pm at the box office in the Opera House, or by telephone at + 49 (0)341-12 61 261.
oper-leipzig.de/en
Further information about the new opera can be found on the website of Oper Leipzig,
https://www.oper-leipzig.de/en/programm/coming-up-for-air/792
„Magnificent production of Bernd Franke’s new work”
Michael Oehme (Pizzicato Luxemburg)
„Enchanting!”
Michael Ernst (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
„A complex but thoroughly convincing world premiere”
Manuel Brug (MDR Central German Broadcasting)
„A resounding success at its world premiere, the kind many theatres can only dream of: composer Bernd Franke embraces an emotional form of musical theatre in the tradition of his mentor Hans Werner Henze.”
Roland Dippel (concerti)
The Leipzig Opera follows the tradition of over 330 years of musical theatre in Leipzig: in 1693, the first opera house on the Brühl was opened as the third civic music theatre in Europe after Venice and Hamburg. Since 1840, the world-renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra has played for all performances of the opera and the Leipzig ballet. In addition to today's opera house on Augustusplatz, built in 1960, Leipzig Opera includes the Musikalische Komödie, a special venue for operettas and musical. With over 720 employees, it is the city's largest in-house cultural institution and comprises five mainstays: the opera, Musikalische Komödie, Leipzig Ballet, their 360° outreach and educational programme, and the craft and costume studios which work for all of the city's theatres.
www.oper-leipzig.de/en
The Canadian author of the original novel Sarah Leipciger herself attended the world premiere. What is her story about? Three worlds, three bodies of water, three life stories. Anouk, a young writer, follows a trail that leads from the present into another time – and into a web of stories, images and coincidences that are connected across eras and national borders. At the centre stands the “L’Inconnue de la Seine”, a mysterious unknown woman whose likeness travelled the world in the last century. While Anouk struggles for breath due to illness, she continues to research, reconstruct and delve ever deeper into the mystery of this death. A second world emerges: that of a Norwegian doll maker who creates a mannequin for practising life-saving techniques, mourning the loss of his son. In the end, everything is connected. The opera thus tells of three life paths that touch one another across time and space. The work is based on the Canadian bestseller of the same name.
Oper Leipzig made the production of „Coming Up for Air” possible through funding from the Ernst Siemens Foundation, and the following team developed it together with the librettist Jessica Walker over the course of four years – with great dedication and heartfelt commitment. Bernd Franke is among those contemporary composers whose works are regularly performed on the international stage. He has collaborated with renowned ensembles and conductors, and his music is performed around the globe: in Europe, Taiwan, Japan, the USA, Southeast Asia and India. His development was influenced by Hans Werner Henze, Leonard Bernstein and Oliver Knussen. Choirs and vocal ensembles such as Calmus and Amarcord, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Thomanerchor, as well as the Gewandhausorchester and the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, regularly perform his works. Director Florentine Klepper has worked at, among others, the Semperoper Dresden, the Oper Frankfurt, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Oper Graz and the Salzburg Easter Festival, and has been a prominent presence on major German-speaking stages for many years. Costumes are designed by Anna Sofie Tuma, and the set design is by Dirk Becker. Together, this team develops a visual language that brings the shifting interplay between present and memory, between research and imagination, between the tangible world and inner space to the stage with great precision and sensuality.
The Leipzig opera house has four more performances to offer, on 22 and 27 March, 4 and 19 April 2026. Tickets can be ordered online at www.oper-leipzig.de or via the Oper Leipzig visitor service Tuesday to Friday, 10 am–6 pm; Saturday, 12–6 pm at the box office in the Opera House, or by telephone at + 49 (0)341-12 61 261.
oper-leipzig.de/en
Further information about the new opera can be found on the website of Oper Leipzig,
https://www.oper-leipzig.de/en/programm/coming-up-for-air/792
„Magnificent production of Bernd Franke’s new work”
Michael Oehme (Pizzicato Luxemburg)
„Enchanting!”
Michael Ernst (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
„A complex but thoroughly convincing world premiere”
Manuel Brug (MDR Central German Broadcasting)
„A resounding success at its world premiere, the kind many theatres can only dream of: composer Bernd Franke embraces an emotional form of musical theatre in the tradition of his mentor Hans Werner Henze.”
Roland Dippel (concerti)
The Leipzig Opera follows the tradition of over 330 years of musical theatre in Leipzig: in 1693, the first opera house on the Brühl was opened as the third civic music theatre in Europe after Venice and Hamburg. Since 1840, the world-renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra has played for all performances of the opera and the Leipzig ballet. In addition to today's opera house on Augustusplatz, built in 1960, Leipzig Opera includes the Musikalische Komödie, a special venue for operettas and musical. With over 720 employees, it is the city's largest in-house cultural institution and comprises five mainstays: the opera, Musikalische Komödie, Leipzig Ballet, their 360° outreach and educational programme, and the craft and costume studios which work for all of the city's theatres.
www.oper-leipzig.de/en
