Doppelgänger – Jonas Kaufmann Sings Schubert
Project
Schubert between memory and farewell
In “Doppelgänger”, song and music theatre come together: Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch perform Schubert’s “Schwanengesang” in a dramatised production by Claus Guth.
Franz Schubert’s “Schwanengesang” is one of the most moving works in the Romantic song repertoire. Written in the final year of his life, the songs revolve around longing and love, loss, memory and the proximity of death. In “Doppelgänger”, these themes are experienced not only musically, but also on stage. For the production at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, director Claus Guth created a dramatised staging centred on Jonas Kaufmann and his long-standing piano partner Helmut Deutsch. The music becomes part of an atmospheric whole in which space, light, video and sound merge. Jonas Kaufmann performs Schubert’s “Schwanengesang”, accompanied by Helmut Deutsch at the piano. The programme also includes the second movement of the Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D 960—another of Schubert’s late works. Combining the music with Guth’s staging offers a fresh perspective on these familiar compositions. The double album released by Sony also includes a CD of songs by Robert Schumann. The film production preserves the New York staging as a live recording. Filmed by Bernhard Fleischer in September 2023 in the monumental hall of the Park Avenue Armory, it captures an extraordinary fusion of concert, music theatre and visual staging. The production will receive special recognition in 2026: on 11 October 2026, the participating artists will be presented with an OPUS KLASSIK in Berlin for the film production of “Doppelgänger”.
