Graphic Design: Mirko Borsche continue their revitalisation of classical music

It’s hard to convey with simple words just how much I love the work of Mirko Borsche. A facial expression might do it better; wide-eyed excitement paired with an open mouth that’s just loosed a glistening bulb of drool. You see Mirko’s pretty much single-handedly transforming the visual landscape of classical music in Germany, producing printed collateral for the Bayerische Staatsoper that adds an up-to-date approach to material so often treated with a woeful lack of creativity or imagination.

It’s widely accepted that music of a certain era should be paired with imagery that matches it, so baroque comes with oil paintings of bewigged regency figures – actually pretty much all visual material pertaining to classical music features an oil painting in some form. It’s a schtick that’s hard to shake. But Mirko’s turing the tables on this creatively barren landscape, injecting opera programmes with a deserved luxury and a visual framework that’s more suited to the timeless quality of the material itself. After all, opera is just a story set to music; the staging of it offers as much creative freedom as a director chooses and the related print material should reflect that.