What do we remember? Who and what shapes our memory? How does historical memory shape our future?

ABOUT

ensemble 3 solo vocalists, 12 instruments, youth choir
instrumentation 8 from chamber orchestra (Bass Clarinet, 2 French Horns Harp, 2 Vln, Vla, Vc.); 4 from Unsettlement Band (e.guitar, e.bass, drums/perc., kbd/elec.)
music and libretto Ted Hearne
director Daniel Fish
duration 60 minutes
commissioned by Komische Oper Berlin
premiere February 9-17, 2024, Komische Oper Berlin, at Heimathafen Neukölln
additional performances May 8, 2025 at Nationaltheater Weimar
publisher Unsettlement Music

over and over vorbei nicht vorbei draws on historical musical material as a starting point for a bold and confrontational remix—of different musical styles and practices, past and present, German and English, the propagandistic with the avoidant, and the archival with the recombinant.

Fragments of both popular love songs and "toxic" songs from American and German pasts are combined into one narrative. In doing so, this opera interrogates the individual and collective process of remembering, bringing two cultures into a dialogue sprung from the questions: How do societies deal with violence in their past? And how do younger generations look at the crimes of their ancestors?

Hearne’s use of love songs centers “frameworks of guilt and responsibility, victim and perpetrator” while his reclamation of songs that justify and promote violence — songs we might rather forget — points to the shared humanity and yearning for lost community at their core. Building upon their acclaimed opera The Source, Hearne and Fish continue to interrogate the impact ordinary people have on the cultures of violence around them.

The first production of over and over vorbei nicht vorbei was commissioned by Komische Oper Berlin, with generous support from Stiftung Erinnerung Verantwortung Zukunft (EVZ).

Design Team

director Daniel Fish
associate director Mikhaela Devra Mahony

video design Jim Findlay
costume design Doey Lüthi
lighting design Bruno Pocheron

dramaturg (Berlin) Christina Runge
community engagement dramaturg (Chicago) Nia Easley

PERFORMERS

composer/conductor Ted Hearne
3 vocalists Eliza Bagg, Tom Erik Lie, Isaiah Robinson
youth choir Vokalhelden (Johannes David Wolff, director)

electric guitar Taylor Levine
electric bass guitar Solomon Dorsey
drums/percussion Ron Wiltrout
keyboard/electronics Rohan Chander