Duration: full evening
Text by the composer after the roman of the same name by Stanislav Lem
Place and time: Space and research station Solaris
Overture and Intermezzo in TV studio, sickroom (possible video playing)

Characters: Harey (soprano) - Gibarian/Berton (baritone) - Kelvin (baritone) - Snaut (bass) - Sartorius (speaking part) - A Mime (silent part)

It was clear from the start that the high-tech ambience of the science-fiction world was not the essential aspect here. The action was set in a space station, however, since this was necessary for the plausibility of the events. One of the works major underlying ideas is the confrontation of people with their past, their guilty conscience and the repressed thoughts this all leads to. Since the scientists encounter these psychological conditions in a personified form and are thus attacked on an emotional level, they react in a way, which they are neither prepared nor trained for. The music fulfills various functions in my opera. Live electronics occupy a special position: the spatial sound simulation developed at IRCAM helps give rise to an element that underscores the surreal character of several scenes. The audience is thus drawn into the sound world of Solaris whenever something happens that is caused by the planets. The audience can distinguish the acoustical contrast between the inexplicable and the confinement of the space station, whose inhabitants can only think and act in a very narrowly delimited framework. (Michael Obst)


TV Production:
Bayerischer Rundfunk 1996


Bibliography:

Stähr, Susanne: Die Grenzen des Fortschritts. Ein Gespräch mit Michael Obst über die zeitlose Thematik seiner "Solaris"-Oper, in: Magazin der 5. Biennale, München 1996, pp. 6-9.