»Rarely have you heard such good use of live electronics. The electronically processed voice plays a key role, giving the work a mystical expression. However, mystical here means experiencing the greatest possible closeness to life (and not as the word mysticism is often used, i.e. as something that is alien to reality). The hyperreal, electronic sounds create a closeness to things, to physical things, to our own bodies.« (Liv Kristin Holmberg)
“Pleasant vocal lines are embedded in a highly complex instrumental composition, dense, shimmering, intensely escalating, hardly allowing a phase of relaxation – except for the recitation of physical formulas and equations, very attractively reproduced by Johanna Greulich onomatopoeically, gurgling and gasping.” (Niklaus Rüegg)
»We experienced two excellent singer-actors in the soprano Johanna Greulich and the baritone Robert Koller and were able to enjoy always committed and nuanced instrumental playing with the young Zafraan Ensemble under the direction of Manuel Nawri. The stage design by Tobias Flemming was imaginative and Benjamin Schad’s direction was convincing.« (Willi Vogel)
»In just under an hour of playback you can surrender to the strange sounds – fascinating, granular-fragmentary particle showers of an ensemble consisting of string quartet, flute, clarinet, saxophone, percussion, the two singers and electronics. The large-scale architecture carries the hour with great breath. The Zafraan Ensemble under the direction of Manuel Nawri offers an excellent performance, the soprano Johanna Greulich and the baritone Robert Koller impress both in terms of singing and acting. The stage concept (Tobias Flemming) and the direction (Benjamin Schad) also fit into the whole.« (Wolfgang Böhler)
»Manuel Nawri led the eight musicians of the excellent Berlin Zafraan Ensemble with concentrated precision.« (Nikolaus Cybinski)
»The Zafraan Ensemble, founded by former students of the Hanns Eisler University of Music and directed by Manuel Nawri, premiered the piece Hypermusic Prologue in concert in 2009 produced as an opera for the first time in the Sophiensaele at the weekend. […] Benjamin Schad’s production no longer conveys much of physics – suddenly everything is opera, feeling, two-dimensional sexuality again. Space does not represent the objectivity of elementary particles, but rather the subjectivity of the worlds in which people live. In doing so, the performance succeeds in transforming a physical theory into artistic truthfulness.« (Peter Uehling)
