The opera PORT BOU by Elliott Sharp presents the last moments in the life of philosopher Walter Benjamin at Port-Bou in 1940 as he was fleeing Nazi-occupied France. PORT BOU features the astounding bass-baritone Nicholas Isherwood with virtuoso Jenny Lin on piano and William Schimmel on accordion as well as electro-acoustic backing tracks by Sharp.
In his spoken introduction to the Berlin performance of PORT BOU, Volker Schlörndorf, director of The Tin Drum stated: "Anybody's agony, the night before closing the door on the world, is hard to transcribe in musical notes, I thought, even more so a philosopher's Angst. Yet, it can be done, and his voice, this particular voice, roaming a hotel room in exile, is proof of it. A metaphysical achievement. "