Chief Hijangua
Namibia's first opera by Eslon Hindundu
Libretto by Nicholas Frei
How it all began
The whole project began with a friendship at the Immling Opera Festival 2019 in Bad Endorf, when Kim Mira Meyer from Munich and Eslon Hindundu from Windhoek, Namibia – she assistant director, he choir director and singer – met for the first time.
Together - he as composer and she as director - they wanted to work on the first Namibian-German opera that also tells the colonial story. Countless Zoom calls, visits to Windhoek, return visits to Munich followed, and all of this during the Corona period.
After three years of preparation, the opera Chief Hijangua celebrated its world premiere in Windhoek in autumn 2022 with over 100 participants. All departments, from set design to directing to production, worked across borders in Namibian-German teams to create the creative concept for the production, an artist collective in the truest sense, with cultural exchange and the integration of the different Namibian cultures being elementary components of the artistic process.
Impressions World Premiere Windhoek
On September 9, 2022, the opera Chief Hijangua by Eslon Hindundu (libretto by Nikolaus Frei) celebrated its world premiere in the sold-out National Theater in Windhoek.
Supported by the Siemens Arts Program, the Federal Foreign Office and others, it is not only about the first opera written by a Namibian composer, but also about examining the colonial history between Namibia and Germany and building a forward-looking cooperation between artists from both countries.
Impressions European premiere Berlin
In summer 2023, the work celebrated its European premiere at the Haus des Rundfunks in cooperation with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, sponsored by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin and supported by the Siemens Arts Program.
