Opera at the End of the World

On a stormy October night the Royal Swedish Opera held the world premiere of Mikael Karlsson’s Melancholia, two weeks behind schedule due to a fatal accident during preseason house repairs.

Based on the 2011 Lars von Trier film of the same name, Melancholia imagines the days preceding the earth’s collision course with a rogue planet, Melancholia. A sense of claustrophobic, impending doom begins before the auditorium opens: projections of the planet Melancholia adorn the foyer while fragments of Karlsson’s thundering, electronic-percussive leitmotif for the planet resound throughout the house, reminding you to “enjoy your pre-show drink, smoke your cigarettes: you cannot escape death.”