Music theatre
4.9.-7.9.2025
, Jahrhunderthalle Bochum

A portrait of a generation - moving, tender, funny and of great depth.

Somebody remembers a first kiss. Another talks about loss. A third says just one sentence - and yet it echoes a whole life.

We Are The Lucky Ones is a touching mosaic of real stories, dreams and memories. Based on interviews with people born in Europe between 1940 and 1949, an emotional chronicle is created - between hope and disappointment, gain and loss, tenderness and anger.

Philip Venables' music lends these voices a playful intensity. It penetrates what is said, opens up spaces for the unsaid - and brings to life what words cannot grasp. Between orchestral outbursts and intimate moments, an invitation is created to review one's own history.

The focus is on the authenticity of the narrative. The singers lend their voices to the memories, manoeuvre collective crises and universal moments of happiness, playing everyone and yet no one.

We Are The Lucky Ones is an invitation to listen - and to think further. What do we leave behind? What responsibility do we bear? 

Co-produced and co-commissioned by Dutch National Opera and Ruhrtriennale. By permission of Opera Edition Ltd.

Press reviews

We Are the Lucky Ones gives voice to a generation. […] What emerges is a portrait of a generation told with compassion, wisdom and artfulness. […] the creators of We Are the Lucky Ones push the boundaries of opera.” – The New York Times, 17 March 2025

 

“A harrowing, tender, funny, non-judgmental living portrait of a generation. […] Venables has created a huge-hearted score [...] that is entirely his own” – Bachtrack, 22 March 2025

 “A sound that alternates between music of memory, wild outbursts and lyrical moments. ” – TAZ, 26 March 2025

  • An intense moment on stage: A woman in a red dress is held by a man in a black suit, while another dancing couple is visible in the background.
    © Koen Broos
  • A performer in a suit kneels on stage with an expressive facial expression, while other actors are active in the background.
    © Koen Broos
  • Actors stand in a row in front of a dark wall, while the words "And how they imagined the future" are projected above them.
    © Koen Broos
  • Scene from the performance "We Are the Lucky Ones" with dramatic lighting and dynamic movement on stage.
    © Koen Broos
  • An actor wears a wolf mask, while colorful light dominates the scene on stage. In the background, you see the projection of a person.
    © Koen Broos

Cast

  • Composition
    • Philip Venables
  • Libretto
    • Nina Segal,
    • Ted Huffman
  • Conductor
    • Bassem Akiki
  • Direction
    • Ted Huffman
  • Set Design
    • Ted Huffman
  • Costume Design
    • Ted Huffman,
    • Sonoko Kamimura
  • Lighting Design
    • Bertrand Couderc
  • Movement
    • Pim Veulings
  • Video Design
    • Nadja Sofie Eller,
    • Tobias Staab
  • Dramaturgy
    • Nina Segal,
    • Laura Roling
  • ONE
    • Claron McFadden
  • TWO
    • Sophia Burgos
  • THREE
    • Nina van Essen
  • FOUR
    • Helena Rasker
  • FIVE
    • Steven van der Linden
  • SIX
    • Frederick Ballentine
  • SEVEN
    • Michael Wilmering
  • EIGHT
    • Alex Rosen
  • Orchestra
    • Bochumer Symphoniker

Further supporters

We Are The Lucky Ones is supported by the Performing Arts Fund NL.

Visit

  • Language

    English with German and English surtitles

  • Run time

    ca. 1 h 40 min.

  • Age guidance

    Recommended from 12 years

  • Introduction

    An introduction will take place in the upper foyer of the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum 45 minutes before the start of each event.

Directions and arrival

Jahrhunderthalle Bochum
An der Jahrhunderthalle 1
44793 Bochum

  • Public transport and Kombi-Ticket
  • Directions
  • Travelling by bike
  • Accessibility at the venue

  • Access
  • Access aid
  • Accessible parking
  • Accessible toilets
  • Hearing support
  • Festival team on site
  • Festival Stories

  • Bigband, Jazz and Swing

    Connections and discoveries in the Ruhrtriennale 2025 programme

  • Three things that make Jahrhunderthalle Bochum unique

  • An opera between documentary and fiction

    Philip Venables, Nina Segal and Ted Huffman in conversation