The second family opera of the season celebrated its enthusiastically received premiere at the Kammer yesterday: HAMED AND SHERIFA, a work by Lebanese composer Zad Moultaka.

King Hamed is furious: just because he is disappointed with his wife, he banishes all the women from his kingdom - except his mother. Princess Sherifa refuses to accept this nonsense. She travels to Hamed's kingdom disguised as Prince Sherif and makes friends with him. Hamed really likes his new friend, and this feeling confuses him more and more: is Sherif really a man? And how can you recognise what is typically male and what is typically female? Lebanese composer and sculptor Zad Moultaka also poses the question of masculinity and femininity to the audience musically, as all the roles in the children's opera, which premiered in 2015, are performed by three male singers. Moultaka's score, written for an ensemble of oboe, bassoon, double bass and two percussionists, combines the tradition of European music theatre and "Western" music with traditional Lebanese music in a fascinating and humorous way.

Viktor Mitrevski, who has been responsible for rehearsing the Arnold Schoenberg Chor for many years, is bringing this Austrian premiere to the stage of the Kammeroper together with Austrian director Florian Drexler, featuring three up-and-coming opera singers Tobias Hechler, Timothy Connor and Johannes Bamberger.

Further dates; 10 and 11 April at 10.30 a.m., 13 April at 4 p.m.