An Austrian opera based on the life and murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has toured around different towns in Austria and is taking centre stage in Vienna this weekend. 

Daphnes Garten (Daphne’s Garden) first premiered in November in a small Eastern Austria town, Oberwart, moving on to two other cities, until finally showing in the capital, Vienna this weekend. 

“The opera tells the tale about the personal courage Daphne had to write and tell the truth, even when you know your life could be in danger,” playwright Katharina Tiwald told Times of Malta. 

Tiwald is an Austrian poet and playwright who has written over 10 productions, but Daphnes Garten is her first opera. She first wrote the text as a play for a drama competition on the topic 'The Arrogance of Capital' back in 2022. 

Tiwald had come across the slain journalist's work before she was murdered. 

“One thing that did strike me was when she wrote about Sebastian Kurz, then Austria’s new chancellor,” she said. Caruana Galizia’s blog post on the new chancellor was posted on October 15, a day before her murder. 

She also came across a story about how former Austrian finance minister, Hans Jörg Schelling had a furniture company based in Malta, to save taxes. 

“I originally began to write a play about Schelling and how he worked on avoiding tax in his business,” she said, describing that the play would have been very political from an Austrian point of view. 

“At the same time, I was reading ‘Isola Assassina’ by Carlo Bonini about Daphne’s murder, and by total chance, I stumbled across a talk held by Peter Caruana Galizia, who spoke about how the garden was Daphne's refugee. That is when I knew I had to write about Daphne.”

The music was commissioned by Erling Wold from San Francisco and the production was directed by Peter Wagner. The production is made up of six musicians and six singers.

The chorus are Daphne's thoughts, her critics, the sea and the constant buzzing of telephone lines in the Opera. Photo: Jennifer Vass, Theaterinitiative Burgenland

Chorus the heart of the performance

When she completed writing the text and shared it with the theatre company she works with, the producer envisioned the text as an opera rather than a traditional play. 

“I worked with the idea of a chorus, similar to what is seen in classical Greek drama where the chorus transforms into different characters and scenes,” she explained. 

“One minute, they are the sea, the next the phone lines and calls Daphne receives, the chorus is constantly commenting and questioning, embodying the huge net of voices surrounding her murder case. They are the voices blaming her and the voices pushing her for the truth.”

The opera first premiered in November and at the opening night in Oberwart, it received a standing ovation and acclaim. Some reviews described the opera as a “complete success” which "gets under your skin”.

The first show on Friday was dedicated in memory of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who died in prison on Friday. 

The opera included scenes about Daphne publishing information about Pilatus Bank. Photo: Jennifer Vass, Theaterinitiative Burgenland

"We had a moment of silence before the production in memory of Navalny, and then an enthusiastic applause from the audience," she said.

"Many commented on their shock at hearing the news of Navalny's death and that the show was extra charged with meaning for them."

'Depict Daphne as a human, not a hero'

Tiwald said that while she wanted to showcase Daphne's courage as an investigative journalist, she did not want to portray her as a hero or perfect.

"There is one particular blog post where she describes Michelle Muscat as wearing what looks like a maternity dress when she met with Michelle Obama and I also put that in the show," she said. 

"I remember the director telling me that the singers were concerned that this part would undermine her authority, but I believe it is important to portray her as a human being, not as someone who has it all figured out."

She had also met with poet and activist Immanuel Mifsud, who sent her soundbites of the correct pronunciation of names for the production. Her research also included reading Daphne's blog, Times of Malta articles and numerous other articles.

"I found it very refreshing how she did not care, she was so free in her way of writing, during my research I thought I would find her work more formal," she said.