Experience the Nine Lives of Zosimos – a telematic opera!

Experience The Nine Lives of Zosimos – a telematic opera!
 

On May 24, 2026 at 2:00 PM (CEST), something unique is happening. Four cities in four countries are united in one and the same simultaneous opera performance: The Nine Lives of Zosimos will premiere simultaneously in Bergen, Berlin, Piteå and Cairo. With the help of telematic technology, musicians, singers and dancers will meet in real time across national borders.
 

In the opera, composed by Jostein Stalheim with a libretto by Astrid Niebuhr, you will be taken on a journey where technology meets live music, visual and video art, intertwined with choreography, scenography and soundscapes. Zosimos, the opera’s main character – an ancient Egyptian alchemist – plays out a story of time travel and migration, from Egypt in the 4th century to today’s Europe. It is also a story of fear and care, flight and return. The project is ambitious, innovative and experimental – an opera performance where technological risk-taking is part of the artistic expression.
 

Zosimos nio liv brings together vocal soloists and instrumental ensemble in Bergen, singers and the chamber ensemble KNM Berlin, Erik Westberg's vocal ensemble in Piteå, singers and musicians in Cairo and the TCP/Indeterminate Place quartet, which controls hyperorgans in several cities.
 

Music by Jostein Stalheim
 

Vocal soloists:
Ludvig Lindström, Zosimos
Silje Aker Johnsen, Maria
Zsuzsa Zseni, Theodora
Kevin Skelton, Rimos
Christine Magdy, Agathos
Silje Onstad Hålien, the monster bride
Anna Risberg, the flower girl
 

Musician:
Ensemble KNM Berlin
Erik Westberg's vocal ensemble
The TCP/Indeterminate Place Quartet
Jostein Stalheim, accordion
Adrià Torres Amorós, clarinet
Gro Marie Svidal, harding fila
Mo'Men Mostafa, ney
Wessam Mokhtar, percussion
Stefan Östersjö, strapless guitar
 

Director: Joseph W. Alford
 

Libretto: Astrid Niebuhr Karlsson
Visualizations: Jon Hoem
Costume: Janne Robberstad
Choreography: Anne Beate Lilletvedt
 

Collaborative partners:
Høgskulen in Vestlandet
Orient Productions, Cairo
Luleå University of Technology
With support from the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills