About the work
Good Vibes Only is a music-theatre work by the Icelandic composer and double bassist Bára Gísladóttir, with text and direction by the French author and director Joris Lacoste. Deutsche Oper Berlin commissioned the English-language piece, which runs about 80 minutes, with support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. Its world premiere there is scheduled for 22 January 2027, conducted by Titus Engel.
Plot
Rather than following a continuous plot, the piece turns to the flood of information on social media and searches for patterns in this digital chaos. Its material consists of real posts from online networks, so that the stage becomes an image of the data space in which people publicly share their thoughts and feelings. Eight singers, five instrumentalists placed in the space and the orchestra carry the performance.
Cultural significance
The piece was written as a commission for Deutsche Oper Berlin, where Gísladóttir is composer in residence in the 2026/27 season; in 2024 she had received an Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize.