Cats have inspired many composers to write works. Besides Andrew Lloyd Webber with his “Cats”, Rossini also dealt with the purring creatures, but John Philipp Sousa also dedicated a work to the wild cats. Jacques Offenbach’s operetta “The Metamorphosed Cat” (Le chatte métamorphosée en femme), which was first performed on April 19, 1858 in Offenbach’s own Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris, is rather unknown today.

Now the Swiss composer Roger Müller has taken up this work and transferred it into the new age. The occasion was an anniversary concert to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Stadtmusik Büren an der Aare. The operetta “The cat transformed into a woman” thus dates from around the time when the orchestra was founded. The premiere of this new arrangement for wind orchestra, rock band and soloists was on 30. 11. 2018 in the sports hall of Büren an der Aare.