What does Richard Wagner have in common with a drag queen? More than you might think. Shlomi Moto Wagner, alias Mazy Mazeltov, is an actor, performer and founder of the Berlin-based cultural collective House of Mazeltov, which operates at the intersection of queer performance, Jewish cultural work and urban political activism. This season, he can be seen as the narrator in Milo Rau’s new production of The Flying Dutchman – a role created especially for him.

As host of the salon, Shlomi Moto Wagner presents excerpts from his acclaimed solo show Richard Wagner – The Drag Queen and invites you to an evening that bridges the worlds of the opera house and the ballroom. The programme features lip-syncs to Wagner, live arias performed by the ensemble, queer readings, Wagner’s letters to his milliner, and an entertaining yet uncompromising examination of anti-Semitism in opera. An evening that takes Wagner as he was and spits him out as he might be.

***

The Unlimited Salon is providing experimental access to the opera material. Whether a famous Berlin astrologer looks to the stars with Stockhausen and Sun Ra, we combine wine with arias or are holding a workshop on digital detox. We look at opera from viewpoints based in real life. And, of course, there’s a drink on the house.