›Kassandra‹ by Michael Jarrell

Cassandra is the daughter of the Trojan ruler Priam and his wife Hecuba. She has the gift of prophecy and is able to foreshadow destinies. However, because she rejects Apollo’s love, he casts a curse upon her. Henceforth, no one will have faith in her prophecies. As a result, Troy meets its downfall because her warnings about the cunning Greeks are ignored. The story of the fall of Troy has been recounted many times, but never before from such a resolutely female perspective as in the 1983 novella ›Kassandra‹ by East German author and Büchner Prize winner Christa Wolf. In this context, Cassandra is portrayed as a discerning observer, a proponent of truth who, even in the face of death, is able to see through patriarchal power structures. Eleven years after its publication, Swiss composer Michael Jarrell discovered Christa Wolf’s story. Fascinated by the intensity with which the protagonist’s inner life is illuminated, he resolved to compose a monodrama for narrator, ensemble and electronics. Utilising a remarkably vibrant musical idiom, he recreates the events surrounding Troy from the recollections of Cassandra, who, confronted with imminent death, sees through the system of authoritarian power that precipitated the war. This piece is both harrowing and thought-provoking, and its relevance is especially pronounced in light of the wars around us. On 23 July 2025, Ensemble Modern will perform the work at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Bas Wiegers and with the award-winning actress Dagmar Manzel as narrator. Ensemble Modern was last seen at the Salzburg Festival in 2015, where they performed Kurt Weill’s

›Threepenny Opera‹.