“Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be angry with them. For as the woman comes from the man, the man comes into the world through the woman. But everything, everything comes from God.” These biblical quotations as a prologue were set to music for choir and orchestra by composer Shane Woodborne and form the central message of this year’s new production of the Salzburg Advent Singing.

Nazareth, a small village – at the village well, Mary and her friend Esther fetch water in heavy stone jugs while chatting. A rabbi sits on a stone and watches the women. More and more villagers join them; an engagement is to be celebrated. In animated conversations, they discuss the law and the rule over women; Mary resists and rebels. The Advent, biblical events with Mary (Simone Vierlinger) and Joseph (Bernhard Teufl) take their course.