Weinberg's The Passenger

Guilt, grief, loss and the abuse of power in a powerfully personal story.

Weinberg’s 1968 opera The Passenger is based on a semi-autobiographical novel and stages the horrific and dehumanising behaviour of the guards at Auschwitz. It also refuses to allow these guards any kind of post-war redemption. The action alternates between an ocean liner in the post-war period and some scenes set in Auschwitz itself. Weinberg, who escaped Warsaw in 1939, lost most of his family in the concentration camp at Trawniki. Weinberg’s score is sometimes as tough and uncompromising as its story, but also contains moments of poignant tenderness. This performance by the CBSO Chorus conducted by Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is guaranteed to be a remarkable, shattering experience.