16.10.2024

GEORG NIGL singing "Fin de partie" at the Vienna State Opera

There seem to be only four people left in the world: the blind and paralysed Hamm, his servant Clov, who can no longer sit, and Hamm's parents Nagg and Nell, who have lost their legs. These four characters vegetate in a hostile, almost uninhabitable landscape and can't stand each other at all. And yet they are inextricably linked by fate, as one cannot exist without the other. Four people in a borderline situation between life and death.

Georg Nigl plays the servant Clov in this piece, an extremely tragic and at the same time absurd character. He is a driven man, a hunted man, someone who has only ever been oppressed. Fin de partie is a game with rules, rituals and memories. And with words. Words that are sung, something that has rarely happened with Samuel Beckett's texts. As the only full-length setting of one of his plays, György Kurtág's opera Fin de partie is a special exception.

Georg Nigl's profound and comprehensive engagement with the works performed, his close affinity with spoken theatre and the associated emphasis on text and rhetoric as well as his expressive acting skills on stage make Georg Nigl one of the most celebrated baritones in the world.

To find out more, follow (in German):
Blog → »Im Bann des Absurden« Oliver Láng in conversation with Georg Nigl & Philippe Sly
Interview → Falter »Gesang am Rande des Abgrunds«
Interview → Kleine Zeitung
Link to the pre-show talk → Einführungsmatinee

György Kurtág: Fin de partie

Charles Workman, Nagg
Hilary Summers, Nell
Phillipe Sly, Hamm
Gerg Nigl, Clov

Simone Young, musical direction
Herbert Fritsch, production, stage & costumes
Friedrich Rom, lighting