World Premiere of "La piccola Cubana"

The stage performances of the television opera La Cubana (Munich 1975, London 1978 and Rostock 1981) were not convincing - the action is too complex with film techniques such as flashbacks or simultaneous actions, there are too many solo parts to cast and the orchestra and big band are too large. Hans Werner Henze therefore envisioned a stage version with 4-6 soloists and 9-11 musicians. As early as 1975, he had compiled a suite for brass from the instrumental movements of the television opera, which was premiered in 1975 under the title Ragtimes & Habaneras. On the basis of the suite Lieder und Tänze, presented in Zurich in 1993 with the Collegium Novum and mezzo-soprano Maria Husman, the composer had shown the size of ensemble he had in mind for the stage version.

Peter Ruzicka, Chairman of the Board of the Hans Werner Henze Foundation, finally committed himself to having this reduced version premiered in his last season as Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival in co-production with the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden under the title La Piccola Cubana, as Henze had intended. This paved the way for Henze's long-time assistant, Jobst Liebrecht, to be commissioned to create this small version. The premiere was scheduled for 5 April 2020 in Salzburg, with the Berlin premiere to follow three weeks later. The play had already been rehearsed ready for the premiere, and yet these two series of performances fell victim to the pandemic regulations in 2020.

Everyone involved was all the happier when the project finally went ahead on 27 October 2022, after more than 30 years of planning and rejection, on the very day that marked the tenth anniversary of the composer's death.