As One accompanies Hannah on her journey to self-knowledge and happiness.
Chamber opera for two voices and string quartet
Music and concept by Laura Kaminsky, libretto by Mark Campbell & Kimberly Reed
Performed in English with German surtitles
Premiere
20. June 2026
Dates & Cast
- Conductor Naomi Shamban
- Staging Rahel Thiel
- Dramaturgy Martin Lühr
- Hannah Younger Gabriel Rollinson
- Hannah Older Dominika Škrabalová
- Conductor Naomi Shamban
- Staging Rahel Thiel
- Dramaturgy Martin Lühr
string quartet
- Hannah Younger Gabriel Rollinson
- Hannah Older Dominika Škrabalová
- Conductor Naomi Shamban
- Staging Rahel Thiel
- Dramaturgy Martin Lühr
string quartet
- Hannah Younger Gabriel Rollinson
- Hannah Older Dominika Škrabalová
- Conductor Naomi Shamban
- Staging Rahel Thiel
- Dramaturgy Martin Lühr
string quartet
- Hannah Younger Gabriel Rollinson
- Hannah Older Dominika Škrabalová
- Conductor Naomi Shamban
- Staging Rahel Thiel
- Dramaturgy Martin Lühr
string quartet
- Hannah Younger Gabriel Rollinson
- Hannah Older Dominika Škrabalová
- Conductor Naomi Shamban
- Staging Rahel Thiel
- Dramaturgy Martin Lühr
string quartet
- Hannah Younger Gabriel Rollinson
- Hannah Older Dominika Škrabalová
Related event
In brief
Who am I? And how do I find out? Two soloists and a string quartet: sometimes that’s all it takes. Laura Kamsinky’s opera As One sensitively describes Hannah’s path to self-discovery. Based on the biography of Kimberly Reed – who co-wrote the libretto with Mark Campbell – it tells the story of a trans woman and her experiences with her family, with society and with herself. Since its world premiere in 2014, As One has become one of the most performed new operas in North America. The reviews have been glowing. According to the New York Classical Review: “As One is everything that we hope for in contemporary opera: topical, poignant, daring, and beautifully written.” And for Out Magazine, “(t)he success and beauty of As One is that it reveals epic emotions within an intimate frame.” Now visitors to Semper Zwei can also accompany Hannah on her journey from childhood to adulthood.
Storyline
Part I
In the suburb where she lives with her parents, Hannah rides through the streets delivering newspapers. The challenges faced by a young person to conform to gender norms become especially flagrant at school, where she is educated in exemplary masculine behavior. But she feels more like a woman. Suddenly one evening, she sees an interview with a trans*woman on television. She discovers that she is not alone in the world and tries to understand herself better by secretly researching in the library.
Part II
During her studies Hannah struggles with her existence, feeling like she is divided in two. Her joy is all the more when she is perceived as a woman by strangers. She makes the decision to undergo hormone therapy and briefly suffers the side effects of dizziness before feeling at one with her own body. Due to growing distance with her family, she stays away from them at Christmastime, spending the holiday instead in a café, where she flirts with a man. When she is verbally abused and harassed on the city street, she becomes aware of the danger faced by the trans*community. She decides to withdraw for a while in order to sort out the feelings inside her.
Part III
Hannah is in Norway. Through nature, solitude, and self-reflection, she finds herself and realizes that happiness is possible for her.
