The singers without a shadow

An evening oscillates between authentic performance and great illusion: one enters a studio stage, with cables lying about, a flickering television, a control panel. There are voices to be heard, later a piano as well: three opera singers and a pianist turn towards us. They speak about their lives as singers, they sing, alone or together, the pianist as well occasionally touches the keys. They tell of their profession, their bodies as instruments, and how this work changes them.

We get to know three personalities, American soprano Karan Armstrong, former prima donna at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, Christoph Homberger, the Swiss tenor known for his unconventional work with Herbert Wernicke and Christoph Marthaler, and the German countertenor Yosemeh Adjei, who could be heard at Ruhrtriennale 2012 in John Cage’s Europeras 1&2. They are the stars of the evening: an unlikely combination of three highly notable singers, three vocal types, three age groups, three professional paths, and at the same time three experts in reproducing feeling: Are singers lying to us? Do we allow ourselves to be seduced by song? What is true?