Musiktheater im Revier (MiR) (Music Theatre in the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

) is the venue for performing

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

, Germany. It opened on 15 December 1959; it is listed since 1997 as a protected

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...

. The building offers two performance spaces: the Large House () with 1,008 seats and about 200 performances per year, and the Small House () with 336 seats and about 120 annual performances. In contrast to the building's outside cubic appearance, the auditoria use a more curved design.

Design

The building was designed by the German architect . The cubic outer shell of the Large House is formed by a glass facade, which gives view into the interior and the cylindric casing of the auditorium and its stairways, and the two monumental sculptures by the French artist

Yves Klein Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein wa ...

. They consist of one 7×20 m (×) monochrome sponge sculpture in a distinctive blue ("Gelsenkirchen Blue") because Klein's International Klein Blue was unsuitable for the large walls: the

acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly Volatile organic compound, volatile, and flammable liquid with a charact ...

-based mixture evaporated, the paint lost adhesion and luminescence, and it was highly flammable. A second, slightly smaller work, is in blue and white. These intensely blue reliefs, which are visible from the outside through the glass skin of the building, inspired the city's graphic artist, Uwe Gelesch, to introduce blue as Gelsenkirchen's house colour. The Small House features a mobile by

Jean Tinguely Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century.Chilvers, Ian; Gl ...

.Musiktheater im Revier
The building served as a location for the 1961 film ''

The Miracle of Father Malachia ''The Miracle of Father Malachia'' () is a 1961 West German black-and-white film directed by Bernhard Wicki and starring Horst Bollmann. The film is based on Bruce Marshall's 1931 novel '' Father Malachy's Miracle'' and tells the story of a sup ...

'' by

Bernhard Wicki Bernhard Wicki (28 October 1919 – 5 January 2000) was an Austrian-Swiss actor, film director and screenwriter. He was a key figure in the revitalization of post-war German-language cinema, particularly in West Germany, and also directed se ...

."MiR-Jubiläum : Gala der Superlative"
Anne Bolsmann, 16 December 2009, ''

Der Westen Funke Mediengruppe (formerly ''WAZ-Mediengruppe'') is Germany's third-largest newspaper and magazine publisher with a total of over 500 publications in eight countries. WAZ-Mediengruppe is privately held by the Funke family and is headquartered i ...

Music theatre

When the theatre opened in 1959, it provided also for the spoken theatre, a typical German ''Drei-Sparten-Theater'' (three performing arts theater: opera, ballet, plays). Austerity measures in 1966/67 forced the abandonment of plays. Like most German municipal theatres (), the Musiktheater im Revier employs its own opera company and chorus and a ballet company under the direction of

Bridget Breiner Bridget Breiner (born 1974) is an American dancer and choreographer. Since 1991, she lives and works mainly in Germany. Breiner was born in Connecticut and brought up in Columbus, Ohio, where she received her early dance training. At 17, she furth ...

. The house orchestra is the , the largest of the three state orchestras in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. The orchestra is funded by the cities of Gelsenkirchen and

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; ) is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south. Recklinghaus ...

and the district of

Unna Unna () is a city of around 59,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the seat of the Unna (district), Unna district. The newly refurbished Unna station has trains to all major cities in North Rhine Westphalia including Dortmund, Köln H ...

Johannes Kalitzke Johannes Kalitzke (born 12 February 1959) is a German composer and conductor. After studying in Cologne and at the IRCAM in Paris, he was chief conductor at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen for several years, then led the ensemble musi ...

was chief conductor from 1984 to 1990.

Heiko Mathias Förster Heiko Mathias Förster (born 1966) is a German conductor. Most notable for conducting the Munich Symphony Orchestra from 1999 to 2006, since 2014, he has been the chief conductor of the Ostrava-based Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra. Life and ca ...

is the current

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

. In 1968,

Bernd Alois Zimmermann Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. Hi ...

's work ' was premiered at the Musiktheater im Revier. The first performance of

Albert Lortzing Gustav Albert Lortzing (23 October 1801 – 21 January 1851) was a German composer, librettist, actor and singer. He is considered to be the main representative of the German ''Spieloper'', a form similar to the French ''opéra comique'', which ...

's 1899 opera '' Regina'' which used the composer's original

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

took place at the MiR in 1998. On 10 October 2003,

Alexander Mullenbach Alexander Mullenbach (born 1949) is a Luxembourgish pianist, composer and conductor. Since 2002, he has been director of the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg."Mullenbach, Alexander", ''Luxemburger Lexikon'', Editions Guy ...

's chamber opera ''Die Todesbrücke'' (''The Death Bridge'') saw its premiere here.

Enjott Schneider Enjott Schneider (born Norbert Jürgen Schneider 25 May 1950 in Weil am Rhein) is a German businessman, composer, musicologist, and music educator. He is best known as the chairman of the board of the German collecting society GEMA. As a compos ...

composed a musical for the occasion of the 100th anniversary in 2004 of the Gelsenkirchen soccer team

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

(spoken: Schalke nullvier) which was premiered on 9 May 2004. The title ''Nullvier – Keiner kommt an Gott vorbei!'' with a double meaning was translated by the composer to ''Zerofour: Nobody comes past God'', but might be rendered also as "04 – Nobody Outdribbles God!". The musical '' Strike Up the Band'' by George Gershwin saw its German premiere at the MiR in 2007 as had the German language production of his opera ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' ( ) is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy (play), ...

'' in 1970. Dannenberg, Peter. "Gelsenkirchen: Nach fünfunddreißig Jahren, Gershwin ''Porgy and Bess''", in ''

Opernwelt ''Opernwelt'' (''Opera World'') is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet. It includes news about current performances, portraits of composers and performers, articles about opera houses, performance spaces, and contemporary and ...

'', vol. XI, no. 11 (November 1970), pp. 35–36

References

External links

* *
"Foyer with one of the Yves Klein reliefs (photo)""Musiktheater im Revier"
Gelsenkirchen.de
"1959 – Eröffnung des Theaters Gelsenkirchen"
pening of Theater Gelsenkirchenand further articles * {{DEFAULTSORT:Musiktheater Im Revier Theatres completed in 1959 Modernist architecture in Germany Buildings and structures in Gelsenkirchen Culture in Gelsenkirchen Heritage sites in North Rhine-Westphalia Opera houses in Germany Ballet venues Theatres in North Rhine-Westphalia Music venues completed in 1959