Dance Festival Königsfelden

2025: Carmen

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Festival Tanz und Kunst Königsfelden 2025

Carmen

A new ballet production
Artistic direction and choreography by Filipe Portugal
Composition by Jonathan Keren based on the original by Georges Bizet

From 23 May to 21 June 2025, the historic Königsfelden monastery church is transformed into a place for dance, music and artistic development. The contemporary new production of Carmen is the choreographic highlight of the Tanz und Kunst Königsfelden 2025 festival - a captivating ballet production between passion, freedom and tragedy.

Choreographer and artistic director Filipe Portugal - former first soloist with Ballett Zürich - retells the story with dancing clarity and emotional depth. His first narrative choreography is musically supported by a new composition and arrangement of the original by Georges Bizet (1875) by Jonathan Keren, interpreted live by the CHAARTS Chamber Artists.

‘[Carmen] is a woman who lives fearlessly, guided by her instincts and desires, without overanalyzing or conforming to moral expectations. This aspect of her personality resonates deeply with today’s society, where individuality and self-expression are more openly embraced.’

- Filipe Portugal, choreographer and artistic director of Carmen

To mark the 150th anniversary of Georges Bizet's death and of Carmen's original premiere, a contemporary homage to one of the world's most famous opera characters - Carmen, the rebellious and freedom-loving protagonist - is being created as an interdisciplinary Gesamtkunstwerk.
The performance venue, the newly renovated Königsfelden monastery church, offers a unique backdrop: Architecture, light and space become part of the narrative - immediate, sensual, haunting.

Tanz und Kunst Königsfelden invites you to the Carmen Festival 2025 -

Premiere: Friday, 23 May 2025, 9 pm
Location: Königsfelden Monastery Church, Windisch
14 additional performances from May 24 to June 15, every Thursday to Sunday (Sundays at 5 p.m.)

More info? Discover "Carmen" in our trailer videos:
Filipe Portugal about the Festival 2025
Filipe Portugal about Carmen as a ballet
CHAARTS director Andreas Fleck about Carmen
Costume Designer Claudia Binder about Carmen
Composer Jonathan Keren about Carmen

Follow @tanzundkunstkoengisfelden on Instagram and Tanz und Kunst Königsfelden on LinkedIn to catch up on everything festival-related.

Link to the Festival Flyer

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Further highlights of the festival:

Concerts by the CHAARTS Chamber Artists

Discover what makes the three CHAARTS concerts at the Carmen Festival 2025 so special – insights from Director Andreas Fleck in the video

‘Habanera’ - Love is a Rebellious Bird

Wednesday, 28 May 2025, 7.30 pm

This music has its roots in Spanish dance and in love.
Eight cellos and a soprano—this daring combination brings to life the immortal melodies of Bizet’s Carmen, the immense power of Ravel’s Boléro, the exotic flair of the Bachianas Brasileiras by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, the lyrical tribute Canciones populares españolas by De Falla, and the passionate tango of Argentina’s Astor Piazzolla in a truly unique concert experience.

Renowned Swiss soprano Chelsea Marilyn Zurflüh joins the rich, resonant soundscape of eight cellos—an ensemble powerful enough to replace a full symphonic orchestra. Currently making waves with a breathtakingly dynamic international career, she has earned spectacular competition successes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Her voice is now destined for the world’s great stages.

Programme:
Manuel de Falla (1876–1946) – 7 Canciones populares españolas, for eight cellos and soprano
Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992) – Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas – The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, for eight cellos
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) – Boléro, for eight cellos
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) – Vocalise-étude en forme de Habanera, for eight cellos and soprano
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) – Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, for eight cellos and soprano
Georges Bizet (1838–1875) – Habanera from the opera Carmen

Cello Ensemble: Alexandre Castro-Balbi, Guillermo Pastrana, Sara Oster, Milena Umiglia, Li La, Sorin Munteanu, Andreas Fleck

Sopran: Chelsea Marilyn Zurflüh

VIDEO: Andreas Fleck about «Habanera»

‘1001 Nights’ - The fairytale world of Scheherazade

Wednesday, 4 June 2025, 7.30 pm

‘Scheherazade’ is considered one of the smartest and most beautiful women since the 9th century. Vienna was crazy about everything oriental at the end of the 18th century. Mozart, who never travelled to the Orient, wrote his most successful opera ‘Abduction from the Seraglio’. It was still being performed when Rimsky-Korsakov composed his colossal symphonic poem ‘Scheherazade’. At the centre is the fairy-tale narrator ‘Scheherazade’, who tells stories to the tyrannical Sultan in 1001 Nights and ultimately wins his love and her life.

Programme:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Overture from ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov ‘Scheherazade, op. 35’
Narrator:
Stefanie C. Braun
Musicians:
David Castro-Balbi (violin)
CHAARTS Chamber Artists

VIDEO: Andreas Fleck about «1001 Nacht»

‘Music in Motion’ - When the body speaks

Wednesday, 11 June 2025, 7.30 pm

Music is movement - sound waves, flying arms, vibrating strings. CHAARTS brings the music to the dancers, who translate the music into body language on this evening. Peteris Vasks touches us with his sounds, but also finds tones for disaster and violence, before a ‘Vasker peace’ emerges at the end. Astor Piazzolla's famous Oblivion expresses the heavy sweetness of life in a tango ballad. Svante Henryson and Guillaume Connesson transcend genre boundaries with their compositions and explore captivating rhythms. Antonio Vivaldi's La Follia is based on a forbidden sequence of notes whose ‘noisy merriment’ still fascinates today. Johann Sebastian Bach's 1st Suite for violoncello solo unfolds its full power in simple dance movements. In his violin sonata, Eugène Ysaÿe takes up Bach's solo works and creates dramatic music somewhere between melancholy and madness.

Programme:
Johann Sebastian Bach ‘1st Suite for Violoncello solo’, Eugène Ysaÿe “2nd Sonata for violin solo”, Antonio Vivaldi ‘La Follia Trio Sonata’, Svante Henryson ‘Off Pist Suite’, Guillaume Connesson ‘Disco-Toccata’, Astor Piazzolla ‘Oblivion’
Musicians:
David Castro-Balbi (violin), Eoin Ducrot (violin), Martin Moriarty (viola), Milena Umiglia (violoncello), Damien Bachmann (clarinet) with dancers from ‘Carmen’

VIDEO: Andreas Fleck about «Music in Motion»

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Flamenco with the Compañia David Coria

‘Los Bailes Robados’

Friday 20 June and Saturday 21 June 2025, 8.30 pm

In ‘Los Bailes Robados’, the multi-award-winning Spanish choreographer David Coria transforms a historical myth - the dancing plague of 1518 in Strasbourg - into an electrifying flamenco ritual about rebellion, oppression and liberation. Driven by archaic force, explosive physicality and musical density, Coria combines flamenco with avant-garde formal language. A danced accusation and celebration at the same time - intense, poetic, political.

On stage:
An international ensemble of exceptional dancers, musicians and the award-winning voice of David Lagos.

Watch the video trailer for "Los Bailes Robados" here

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Arrival

If possible, please travel by public transport: www.sbb.ch
10 min. on foot from Brugg, AG railway station

Parking at building O1 of the Psychiatric Services Aargau (Meeting Centre, Königsfelderstrasse 1, 5210 Windisch)

Car park at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland Brugg-Windisch: Campus Parking, Bahnhofstrasse 5, 5210 Windisch

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Catering

Festival café

Our festival café is open one hour before the start of each performance - come along and get in the mood for the evening!

Choreography:
Filipe Portugal

Dramaturgy:
Gregor Acuña-Pohl

Composition:
Jonathan Keren

Stage design/Art Installation:
Antonina Businger

Costume design:
Claudia Binder

Rehearsal Director:
Salomé Martins

Dance Ensemble:
Giulia Tonelli, David Coria, Valentina Pedica, Dominic Harrison, Clara Thierry, Michele Pastorini, María Matarranz, Valentin Chou, Carmelia Steiner, Roman Pascoli, Ashley Tsuyu Burks, João Reis, Catarina Gonçalves, Damian Huiduc-Manolescu

Musical direction:
Andreas Fleck

Music ensemble:
CHAARTS Chamber Artists

Cello sextet:
Guillermo Pastrana, Isabel Gehweiler, Milena Umiglia, Li La, Andreas Fleck, Sorin Mutanu

Percussion:
Eleonora Costina, Luca Staffelbach

General artistic director:
Filipe Portugal

Production director:
Judith Mey

Technical director:
Karl Egli

Lighting:
Karl Egli, Micha Bietenhader

Sound:
Amadis Brugnoni

Download high-res press images here.