Opera is inviting me to experience new perspectives all the time. That music is shared between houses, individuals and reimagined through space, trauma and tragedy is a miracle. How it shifts time. And how some of today’s brilliant minds come together to commission and create opera that holds space for human emotion.

Such an experience is the continued goal of German composer Christian Jost. Writing his first opera in 2004, Jost’s dedication to the operatic art form represents itself through his now 10th opera. The world premiere of Voyage vers l’Espoir (Journey of Hope) on 28 March brought me to the prosperous capital of French-speaking Switzerland – Geneva.

Wealth and conscience – Grand Théâtre de Genève | Photo: Hattie Butterworth

Based on the 1990 Oscar-winning film of the same name, Jost’s Journey of Hope follows a refugee Kurdish family as they make the perilous journey to Switzerland, a place that has been promised to them as a ‘paradise’ of financial freedom.
It was my first time in this historic city and I was glad it was spring – perhaps aware of the potential impact of the subject matter surrounding this opera on me. Blossom and the beginnings of a vibrant outdoor culture surrounded the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the adjacent Parc des Bastions sighing relief at the new-found seasonal light.

Meeting Christian Jost in a rehearsal room at the Grand Theatre, it was clear that this project had taken over much of his consciouness for some years: ‘This piece had a difficult history. Not only from the subject, but from having to stop it due to the pandemic.’

Conversations around the disruption of the pandemic still seem to precede commissions such as this one. But Jost says the pandemic exposed another dimension, beyond cancellation: ‘In Germany and on the continent we had this discussion during the pandemic about what actually is relevant for society. We artists and opera houses, concert halls and orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic apparently have no relevance for the society. Though the government was giving money, when this big question came, what do we open first – hairdressers or the concert halls – it was the hairdressers.

Composer Christian Jost

‘I’m not sure if art really can play that major a role in society as we would like it to have, but that doesn’t stop me putting all my energy and my life basically now into opera … my goal is to show the “condició humana” – the condition of humanity in all its forms.’

Journey of Hope gives the audience an image of the human condition at its most vulnerable. Witnessing crushing decision making, relentless movement and tragedy, Jost’s opera asks difficult questions about the migrant crisis, both back in the nineties and also today – the genesis of the opera occurring close to the refugee crisis of 2015. I ask Jost about what he hoped the opera might say: ‘This issue is so tremendously complex I don’t have an answer. In this piece it was important to show the reality of a human tragedy linked to the theme of refugees. The end doesn’t show them coming to Switzerland and having a nice life. They have the total opposite experience.

The cast of Journey of Hope | Photo: Gregory Batardon

‘I think the only thing that artists can do is to sense the empathy for human questions and somehow not lose that. But if this has any relevance in society, I don’t know. We need to show how complex the world is – we cannot stop because if we give this up then there is not even a little bit of hope in society.’

Delivering the journey of this Kurdish family to Geneva’s audience was the task of director Kornél Mundruczó. Beginning in a corn field complete with video projection, through to Milan’s grey station platform, perilous roadsides and, ultimately, a Swiss mountain peak, the family’s journey was presented as one of relentless torment throughout the opera’s 90-minute runtime. The mountain came complete with snow, mist and atmosphere as the young son Ali (Ulysse Liechti) hallucinated visions of paradise.

Playing a vital part in the drama was the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, whose rehearsals Jost would listen to from the outset. ‘The kindness, the elegance, the delicacy, the quality of sound was from the first moment so wonderful, which is really not always the case, especially when playing a piece for the first time.’

He continues to explain how letting go and ‘handing over’ has become the most important part of creating an opera: ‘I want the orchestra to feel like it becomes their piece. They have to fulfil it with the life in this moment, and for this they have to be confident with it – then you need a conductor to give this confidence.’

Grand Théâtre de Genève sits in this wealthy capital, having given nearly 150 years to the culture of Switzerland. Yet it is taking risks, asking questions of its audience and engaging in daring collaboration.

Aviel Cahn has been at the helm as General Manager since 2019, and as he moves to Deutsche Opera in 2025, the opera world waits to see if Geneva will continue to put contemporary opera on the map.