Lasso didn’t choose to have the childhood he had, being brought up by Popa, a frazzled single mother who not only has her son to take care of but also a rowdy pub to manage. Which is why Lasso leaves home to seek his fortune. Along the way he hears about Princess Scharada and her three riddles. A man can ask her three questions: if she fails to answer them correctly, he gets to marry her and rule the realm; if she solves the riddles, he is put to death. But whatever happens, Lasso will not only have travelled the world and crossed paths with robbers, wild boars, astrologers, clairvoyants, scheming politicians and stern ladies-in-waiting – he’ll also have found a great friend and companion. In his THE THREE RIDDLES, an erratic blend of fairytale, social drama, road movie and full-scale opera, composer Detlev Glanert presents a witty, zany and slightly scary story of two very different children, who team up to hold their own in the big, wide world and find their own way.

THE THREE RIDDLES was written for the Cantiere Internationale d’Arte, the summer academy in the Italian town of Montepulciano, which has become a byword for artistic collaborations between professionals and amateurs, between children, teenagers and adults. For this reason the two main roles in THE THREE RIDDLES are taken by children acting alongside adult soloists and members of the Children’s and Youth Chorus – with the Orchestra likewise including kids and teens. The director is Brigitte Dethier, the grande dame of German theatre for children and teens and longtime head of the Junges Ensemble Stuttgart, which made its debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2019 with a performance of THE SNOW QUEEN in the Tischlerei.

Spotlight
THE THREE RIDDLES is a joint production involving children and teenagers and is aimed at all youngsters and young-at-hearts over the age of eight. The work is a collaboration between the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Musikschule City West Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Landesjugendorchester Berlin. Over half of the approx. hundred musicians in the orchestra pit will be children and teens who have rehearsed their contributions in music lessons and participated in extensive workshops with director Dominic Limburg and members of the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. On the night they will be sitting alongside the professionals in the pit when the curtain rises on the premiere of THE THREE RIDDLES.