What does a 19th-century song cycle have to say to us today? With feet planted firmly in a world where girls are all named for flowers and “herz” (heart) is a convenient rhyme for “schmerz” (pain), not that much one might suppose. Katie Mitchell, Martin Crimp and Bernard Foccroulle, however, are prepared to argue otherwise and Zauberland (Magic Land), playing as part of Lincoln Center’s 10th White Light Festival, is the frequently traumatic and endlessly thoughtful result. A deep dive into Schumann’s Dichterliebe, it is also a meditation on the current refugee crisis and the power of the subconscious, employing the extraordinary talents of soprano Julia Bullock and pianist Cédric Tiberghien in an immersive experience that marries a controlled musical integrity with boundless theatricality.

Julia Bullock in Zauberland. Photo © Stephanie Berger

The program note gives us a backstory: a young woman is forced to leave her husband and family in Syria for a life in Germany. Settled in Cologne, she gives birth to a daughter and resumes her career as an opera singer. The events we see on stage are a combination of...