Art and opera have long gone hand in hand: think of Marc Chagall’s frescoes for the ceiling of the Opéra Garnier in Paris, or the stage designs of László Moholy-Nagy for the Kroll Opera House in Berlin. More recently, artists have taken to creating operas themselves, with Marina Abramović and Wael Shawky conceiving and designing vivid works for the stage in the last few years. Now Petrit Halilaj, working with the Kosovo Philharmonic, is bringing Syrigana – a five-act opera he co-wrote with Amy Zion and Doruntina Basha – to the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (11 September–31 May 2026). The work takes its title from a village near Halilaj’s home town and was first performed there earlier this summer. Syrigana, according to Kosovar legend, was where Adam and Eve got married after their expulsion from Eden. The village is now a protected archaeological site. Halilaj’s operatic retelling of this myth will be accompanied by sculptures, installations and video work from across his career.
Find out more from the Hamburger Bahnhof’s website.
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