Nefertiti in AKHNATEN – Het Concertgebouw (house debut)

Along with Einstein on the Beach and Satyagraha , the opera Akhnaten (1983) forms a triptych about science, politics, and religion. Composer Philip Glass, often in collaboration with theater maker Robert Wilson, thus created a sweeping musico-dramatic panorama of current affairs in a unique new formal language. In Akhnaten , after his father’s death, the young pharaoh Akhenaten comes to power, with his wife Nefertiti—the one depicted in the beautiful bust in Berlin. After his coronation, he abolishes all the old gods to introduce a new religion. This dismays the priests, who overthrow him.