The Puppet Designer is a musical chamber work in Yiddish for baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

 and chamber orchestra by Nicholas Lens

Nicholas Lens

Nicholas Lens is a contemporary Belgian author and composer.Lens was born in Ypres near the French border in Flanders, Belgium. His godfather taught him violin when he was five. He studied trumpet and double-bass, first at local academies and then at Royal conservatories. Later on he studied viola...

.

The work was commissioned by the Jewish community of Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 to commemorate the liberation of the concentration camps.

Premiere

The world premiere took place on April 4, 1995, at the Singel

Singel

Singel is an old Dutch word meaning a circle , and hence is the name of a number of circular canals in the Netherlands.*Singel *Singelgracht *Singel...

 in Antwerp with the Oxalys Chamber Orchestra (without conductor), featuring Henk Lauwers

Henk Lauwers

Henk Lauwers is a classical baritone singer , born in Ypres, Belgium in 1956As a very young boy soprano Lauwers performed under direction of Benjamin Britten his War Requiem. Later he studied classical flute but gained international fame as a classical baritone singer...

 (baritone). The first performance with conductor took place on June 18, 1996, in Paradiso

Paradiso (Amsterdam)

Paradiso is an iconic rock music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.-History:It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije...

, Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, The Netherlands, at the Festival "The Power of Culture: Our Creative Diversity", Unesco

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 - United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, with I Fiamminghi (orchestra), Henk Lauwers (baritone), and Rudolph Werthen, conductor. The final published version under the new title The Puppet Designer has not yet had its premiere.

Credits and notes

• Music and lyrics: Nicholas Lens
  Nicholas Lens
  Nicholas Lens is a contemporary Belgian author and composer.Lens was born in Ypres near the French border in Flanders, Belgium. His godfather taught him violin when he was five. He studied trumpet and double-bass, first at local academies and then at Royal conservatories. Later on he studied viola...
  
  
• Publisher: Schott Music
  Schott Music
  Schott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe and is currently the second oldest music publishing house. The company headquarters of Schott Music was founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz, Germany in 1770.Established in...
  
  International (2005), Mainz; New York
• Language: Yiddish
• Title in Yiddish: Der Bashafer fun Marionetn
• Score credits: dramma per musica in nove atti per baritono e orchestra da camera (2005), lingua: Giudaico
• Duration: approx. 25 min.
• Working title: Ikh bin keyn eydes nit gevezn
• Translation lyrics in Yiddish: Dobruszkes
• Translation lyrics in French: Ronald de Pourq
• The work was originally commissioned for orchestra without conductor