Concert Version of the Opera
To mark the conclusion of his exhibition Petrit Halilaj. An Opera Out of Time (until 31 May), Petrit Halilaj presents his opera Syrigana in a concert version, developed in collaboration with the Kosovo Philharmonic, at Hamburger Bahnhof. First premiered outdoors in the Kosovo landscape in June 2025, the work is reconfigured at Hamburger Bahnhof as a performative concert, activating the installation on view since September 2025 in a new, more dreamlike form. The performance takes place within the exhibition with 11 musicians, two sopranos and the wedding band Don’t Listen to Your Neighbors, conducted by Marco Crispo.
The mythical site of Syrigana, a more than 3,000-year-old village near Halilaj’s hometown of Runik, forms the conceptual point of departure. As an archaeological site and a repository of local mythologies, it becomes the setting for an epic, queer love story: across five acts, the opera recounts the arrival of the Fox and the Rooster, expelled from paradise and reaching the village aboard a helicopter from the NATO peacekeeping mission KFOR.
The installation version of the opera, shown in Halilaj’s solo exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof since September 2025, is now activated in a new, dreamlike form for the exhibition’s conclusion. While the original opera was realised as a stage production, it unfolds here through a constellation of elements: the Kosovo Philharmonic performs the score composed by Lugh O’Neill, the sopranos Nina Guo and Urta Haziraj give voice to the narrative, and marionettes stage the story in miniature, performed by Keumbyul Lim, Hanik Soleimani and Carlo Silvester Duer.
Duration: approximately 1 hour
The museum version of his first operatic work Syrigana is a central chapter of the solo exhibition Petrit Halilaj. An Opera Out of Time (until Sunday, 31 May 2026). Alongside the site-specific work, the presentation in the expansive Rieckhallen features sculptures and installations from different phases of the artist’s practice, addressing lived experiences of war, displacement and exile, as well as queerness and cultural oppression. The exhibition remains open until 6 pm on performance days.
The event forms part of the anniversary programme marking 30 years of Hamburger Bahnhof. In 2026, Hamburger Bahnhof celebrates its 30th anniversary with a programme spanning the history of the site and projecting into the future: eight special exhibitions, a new collection presentation, as well as performances and concerts extend the museum far into the urban space. The highlight is the anniversary weekend from 13 to 15 November 2026, during which an international conference on the future of contemporary collection-based museums will take place and the museum will remain open continuously for 30 hours.
The event is curated by Catherine Nichols, Curator at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.
The event is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of the Republic of Kosovo, Hamburger Bahnhof International Companions e. V., Ambasciata d’Italia Berlino, and Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo, Berlin.