''What Next?'' is the only opera by

Elliott Carter Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...

. Paul Griffiths wrote the libretto to the one-act work in 1997/98 on a commission from

Staatsoper Unter den Linden The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

in Berlin. The opera premiered there on 16 September 1999 in a fully staged production conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Performance history

*US premiere 24 February 2000,

Orchestra Hall, Chicago Symphony Center is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus; Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and the Institute for Learning, Access, ...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

, under Daniel Barenboim *Netherlands premiere on 9 September 2000 at Amsterdam

Concertgebouw The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls in ...

under

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...

*French premiere on 7 November 2000 at

Cité de la Musique The Cité de la Musique ("City of Music"), also known as Philharmonie 2, is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the Parc de la Villette, 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was designed with the nearby Conservatoire d ...

, Paris, under

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 202 ...

*British premiere on 5 January 2001 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, under

Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor. Early life Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a ...

*Belgian premiere on 24 March 2002 at Concertgebouw, Bruges, under

*U.S. staged premiere on 27 July 2006 at the

Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...

under

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

*Munich staged premiere on 20 November 2007 at

Prinzregententheater The Prinzregententheater, or, as it was called in its first decades, the Prinz-Regenten-Theater, in English the Prince Regent Theatre, is a concert hall and opera house on Prinzregentenplatz in the Bavarian capital of Munich, Germany. Building ...

under

Ulf Schirmer Ulf Schirmer (born 1959) is a German conductor and opera house administrator. Born in Eschenhausen, Lower Saxony, Schirmer studied at the Bremen Conservatory, and also at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, with György Ligeti, Christ ...

*New York staged premiere on 7 December 2007 at

Miller Theatre Miller Theatre at Columbia University is located on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University. It is a performing arts producer dedicated to developing and presenting new music. In 1988, the former McMillin Theater was renovated and ...

under Jeffrey Milarsky *Italian premiere on 12 January 2008 in Turin under

Peter Rundel Peter Rundel (born 1958 in Friedrichshafen), is a German violinist and conductor. A recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque in 1998 for his recording of Jean Barraqué's complete works, he became conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Fl ...

*Austrian staged premiere on 3 December 2008 in Vienna under *Australian staged premiere on 15 August 2012 with

Victorian Opera Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill as ...

under Daniel Carter (performed as double bill with Manuel de Falla's ''

Master Peter's Puppet Show ' (''Master Peter's Puppet Show'') is a puppet-opera in one act with a prologue and epilogue, composed by Manuel de Falla to a Spanish libretto based on an episode from ''Don Quixote'' by Miguel de Cervantes. The libretto is an abbreviation of ch ...

'') *French staged premiere on 30 November 2012 at Opéra Berlioz Montpellier under

Roles

Synopsis

As the percussionists replicate the sounds of a car crash the characters wake up and discover themselves lost. They are physically unhurt but have lost all memory of who they are and how they came to be together. Many theories arise from all the characters. Mama suggests that they were on their way to Rose and Harry or Larry's wedding, Stella is sure that she was driving to the astronomical institute with Kid, and Rose claims she was in a taxi on her way to her hotel after an extremely well received performance. Harry or Larry, Kid and Zen don't suggest any possible reasons how the situation came to be. An argument arises about whose story is the right one. Zen is overwhelmed by the situation, and when he exits the stage in search of help, Mama accuses him of being a coward and goes to insult him. While Stella sings of the stars and space to Kid, she decides to follow the others. But, Kid is afraid of Mama and Zen so he decides not to follow Stella. When Rose realizes that everyone is gone, she asks Kid where they have all gone and Kid replies by pointing offstage. After the adults are gone, Kid entertains himself. When the other characters return, they are completely disheveled and it is evident that their search for help has turned into another disaster. There are more arguments about a divorce between Mama and Zen that only Mama remembers. When four road workers arrive, they think they are saved but the road workers appear completely oblivious to the six victims. All hell breaks loose after the road workers leave. Mama discovers that Rose is pregnant, Harry or Larry is distressed to realize he can't remember if the baby is his, Stella and Mama both have nervous breakdowns, and only Kid remains sane. As Rose recalls the notes of a particularly horrible aria from her recent performance, Kid finally loses his temper. He shouts "What?" to the audience, Rose sings her highest possible note, and the lights go out.

Recordings

There are four recordings (''key: Conductor/Mama/Rose/Stella/Kid/Zen/Harry''): * Barenboim/ Dawson/Nold/ Summers/Antal/Joyner/Müller-Brachmann, 1999, live in Berlin (not commercially released) * Eötvös/Sarah Leonard/Valdine Anderson/Summers/Emanuel Hoogeveen/Joyner/Dean Elzinga, 2000, live in Amsterdam,

ECM New Series ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

/Universal Classics 472 188 (CD) *

Levine Levine (French transliteration from Russian) / Levin (surname), Levin (English transliteration from Russian Левин) is a common Jewish language, Jewish (Ashkenazi Jewish) surname. Levinsky is a variation with the same meaning (see French version ...

/Jamie van Eyck/ Kiera Duffy/Christin-Marie Hill/Rebecca Danning/Lawrence Jones/Chad Sloan, 2006, filmed at Lenox, BSO label (DVD)''What next?''
Boston Symphony Orchestra * Schirmer/Vera Semieniuk/Anna Borchers/Sonja Leutwyler/Bastian Sistemich/Lucas Vanzelli/Andreas Burkhart, 2007, live in Munich ( BR recording)

References

Review of the ECM recording
by Walter Horn, June 2004, bagatellen.com

External links

Work details

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York-based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies i ...

{{Authority control Operas by Elliott Carter ECM New Series albums English-language operas Operas 1999 operas One-act operas Opera world premieres at the Berlin State Opera

Performance history

Roles

Synopsis

Recordings

References

Further reading

External links