Novoflot “The 5th Season - NO NAME (GOD)”

Contemplation, insight, and euphoria are the central categories through which the company, renowned throughout Europe, seeks to frame pilgrimage as a specific musical-theatrical event. As the audience moves from station to station, they experience their own individual opera performance and find themselves right in the middle of Novoflot’s musical-theatrical proposal for a completely new form of pilgrimage: wild spinning instead of walking, drama and ecstasy instead of introspection, Wertmüller’s compositional power instead of silence and contemplation.

The team behind the pilgrimage research opera NO NAME (GOD) includes several top-tier musicians from the fields of jazz and new music, two choirs with a total of over 50

people, guests from intercultural communities, and an ensemble of performers. Together, they mark the stations between organ, choir, free-jazz session, and gospel, forming a novel pilgrim community that, a few centimeters removed from penance and vows, seeks new paths to finally draw closer to the nameless God in a personal way.

NO NAME (GOD) is Part 4 of the 18-month-long overall project “The 5th Season,” which began with the overture in June 2025 at the Kühlhaus Berlin and, after stops in Athens and Zurich, will conclude in October 2026 at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall.

The independent opera company Novoflot breaks down all musical boundaries, performs in public spaces or at unusual venues, brings together top-tier artists from across Europe, and regularly collaborates with local amateur musicians, orchestras, and choirs. Since its founding in 2002, the company has produced over 50 experimental productions. Venues and co-producers have included the Hamburg State Opera, the Ultraschall Festival, Transmediale, and the Weimar Art Festival, as well as the Greek National Opera, the Copenhagen Opera Festival, the Bern Music Festival, and Matucana 100 in Santiago de Chile.

Composition: Michael Wertmüller Direction, Concept: Sven Holm Musical Direction: Vicente Larrañaga

Costumes: Regine Standfuß

Set Design Assistant: Flóra Kruppa

Video design: Mirko Borscht

Dramaturgy, Concept: Malte Ubenauf

Company Management: Dörte Wolter

Technical Production Manager: Axel Lambrette Production Manager: Rania Mavriki

Performers:

Including Franziska Gross, soprano | Ichi Go, dance | Nils Wogram, trombone | Hayden Chisholm, saxophone | Andi Schnellman, bass | Emilio Guim, guitar | David Meier, drums | Jacopo Salvatori, keyboards | two choirs & additional guests