Gisela!

Gisela!
Opera by Hans Werner Henze
The composer in 1960
Language	German
Premiere	20 May 2010 (2010-05-20) Ruhrtriennale, Zeche Zweckel (), Gladbeck

Gisela! oder: Die merk- und denkwürdigen Wege des Glücks (German for Gisela! or: The Strange and Memorable Ways of Happiness) is an opera by Hans Werner Henze.

Gisela! was first performed in the Maschinenhalle of the Zeche Zweckel (), Gladbeck, Germany, on 25 September 2010 as part of the Ruhrtriennale music and arts festival by the contemporary music ensemble musikFabrik in collaboration with local youth groups and students of the Folkwang University, Essen. The work was commissioned 2008 by the Ruhr.2010 (European Culture Capital 2010) and the Semperoper, Dresden, where it was performed on 20 November 2010. A performance lasts for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The conductor Steven Sloane (who was also the music director of the Ruhr.2010 festival) first performed the work. Pierre Audi directed, the cast included Hanna Herfurtner as Gisela, Fausto Reinhardt as Gennaro and Michael Dahmen as Hanspeter. The Semperoper team included the conductor Erik Nielsen and the director Elisabeth Stöppler, with Nadja Mchantaf as Gisela, Giorgio Berrugi as Gennaro and Markus Butter as Hanspeter.

The two first productions of Gisela! at the Ruhrtriennale and in Dresden show the two possible performing options: at the Ruhrtriennale all the performers were young people, mostly teens, and in Dresden the Staatskapelle and Staatsopernchor as well as the main Ensemble performed the work. The original commission, as discussed with Hans Werner Henze, Michael Kerstan, Ruhr.2010 music director Steven Sloane and Eytan Pessen was to continue the direction of Henze's Pollicino (a work written for children performers). Gisela!'s target performers are teenagers and young singers, although the score is demanding for orchestra, chorus and soloists – it is nevertheless performable by talented young singers. The Dresden version includes a slightly expanded arietta for the role of Hanspeter, and numerous changes. It is this version that was published.