Valer Sabadus in »Malina« Premiere at SWR Festspiele Schwetzingen
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2026_Malina_©Annemone Taake -
2026_Malina_©Annemone Taake -
2026_Malina_©Annemone Taake
On 24 and 25 April 2026, the opera Malina by Karola Obermüller and Peter Gilbert, directed by Franziska Angerer and co-produced with Theater Aachen, premiered at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival. Valer Sabadus performed the role of Malina, the male alter ego of the unnamed female narrator.
Commissioned on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ingeborg Bachmann’s birth, the opera is based on her novel of the same name, with a libretto by Tina Hartmann, and was produced for Theater Aachen.
In an article in the FAZ dated April 27, 2026, Jan Brachmann wrote:
“The countertenor Valer Sabadus [...] possesses an uncanny gift: gentleness as perfidy. For years, he has captivated audiences with his full-bodied yet delicate mezzo-soprano in works by Handel, Gluck, and Mozart [...].”
“When Akbari and Sabadus […] sing the Slovenian words for ‘I and you’ — ‘jaz in ti’ — their voices merge in overflowing beauty.”
Further performances will take place at Theater Aachen on 2 and 8 May, as well as 6 and 26 June.