Krenek Opera Shorts

The animated videos in the "Krenek Opera Shorts" series take you through the plots of selected operas by Ernst Krenek (1900-1991). OMAi created two episodes on behalf of the Ernst Krenek Institute.

The first episode is based on Ernst Krenek’s greatest success of his career, the opera Jonny spielt auf (“Jonny strikes up”) from 1926. The premiere took place in Leipzig in 1927. The audience responded enthusiastically: “Jonny” was played to sold-out houses on over 100 stages throughout Europe and Krenek became one of the best-known names in the music world of the time almost overnight.

The second episode summarises Krenek's opera Das Leben des Orest ("Life of Orest"), completed in 1929, which moves freely around the life story of the tragic figure from greek mythology. As Krenek explained, his approach to ancient material was not limited to simply presenting a condensed retelling of the tragedy, but rather aimed to offer contemporary audiences a “colourful, lively folk spectacle.”

The episodes were created by Markus Dorninger and Matthias Fritz by mixing Tagtool drawings with other visual techniques, borrowed from their theatre projection work. The music and narration for the pieces was recorded by Christian Reiner and Karl Ritter as single takes, which were then edited in post-production.

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Drawing and Animation: Markus Dorninger, Matthias Fritz
Background Painting: Marcus Neustetter
Text, Voice, and Sound Effects: Christian Reiner
Music, Guitar: Karl Ritter
Content Consulting: Clemens Zoidl
Audio Design: Martin Siewert, Christian Reiner
Audio Mix and Mastering: Martin Siewert