OPUS 45 - Es war Mord! - A True-Crime Concert Evening with Roman Knizka and OPUS 45 (Bavarian Premiere)

"Es war Mord!" - A True-Crime Concert Evening with Roman Knizka and OPUS 45 (Bavarian Premiere)

Real crimes are more than criminal cases. They mark pivotal moments in history - places where power meets resistance and truth becomes deadly.

In "Es war Mord!", Roman Knizka weaves true crime with history and music into a compelling concert evening. With great precision and narrative presence, he guides listeners through four real crimes of the 20th and 21st centuries: the murder of Reich Finance Minister Matthias Erzberger, which foreshadowed the collapse of the Weimar Republic; the fate of lawyer Hans Litten, who challenged Adolf Hitler in court and ultimately broke under the Nazi regime's concentration camps; the disputed circumstances surrounding the deaths of Petra Kelly and Gert Bastian, which raise questions about political responsibility and private violence; and the attack on Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, murdered on October 7, 2006 - Vladimir Putin's birthday. In 2026, we mark the 20th anniversary of her death.

The wind quintet OPUS 45, composed of musicians from the Hamburg State Opera, Dresden Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, and NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, lends the texts their own sonic language drawn from film music and classical repertoire. True crime here becomes not sensation, but precise analysis of political reality.

For their exceptional contribution to conveying history, Roman Knizka and OPUS 45 have been awarded the Hans Frankenthal Prize by the Auschwitz Committee Foundation.