After 101 years, Alexander Zemlinsky’s opera Kleider machen Leute (Clothes Make the Man) is returning to the State Opera venue in Prague. A gracious piece straddling comedy and allegoric fairy tale based on a novella from the Swiss author Gottfried Keller’s collection Die Leute von Seldwyla (The People of Seldwyla) has been staged by the globally renowned Dutch opera director Jetske Mijnssen and conducted by Lithuania’s Giedrė Šlekytė. The opera is being revived as part of the Musica non grata project.

The story begins in earnest at the moment when on the square of Goldach, a provincial, and somewhat dreary, town, whose denizens long for a thrilling event, appears a mysterious, elegant coach with an even more mysterious stranger with romantic looks…

Kleider machen Leute features wonderfully refined, colourful orchestration, making full use of the space afforded by the ambiguity of Keller’s story, oscillating as it does between reality and fantasy. The score reflects inspiration by the lucidity of Mozart’s music. The visual side of the production, especially the geyser of glorious costumes that correspond to the title Clothes Make the Man, has been handled by world-famous set designer Herbert Murauer and costume designer Julia Berndt. The lead role of Wenzel Strapinski will be portrayed by the American tenor Joseph Dennis, who since 2018 has been a soloist of the Semperoper and who has won several prestigious competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2015). The role of Nettchen was assigned to the soprano Jana Sibera, who recently received the coveted Czech Thalia Prize.Performed in German, with Czech and English surtitles.

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