Today : world première of 'Aliénor' by Alain Voirpy in Limoges

 

Today, the Opéra de Limoges presents the world première of Aliénor, Allah i Nour, Queens of Light, an opera composed by Alain Voirpy.

 

It is the composer's first opera.

The action takes place at the crossroads of multiple temporal fractures, illustrating the permanence of the fight led by women to defend their legitimate rights: Eleanor, in the Middle Ages, recluse in a castle in England, alone, facing her past, her demons, her guilt, but also the frustrations of the queen, the mother and the Christian, Eleanor still, today a prisoner of a museum in the Middle East, a Western mirage in a world fanaticized by the obscurantism, Eleanor, finally, contemplating in New York the result of 8 centuries of incessant struggles: a freedom which remains to be conquered in the face of a humanity which has forgotten its past to convince us, today, of his sincerity. (freely adapted from the Opéra de Limoges website)

The cast includes soprano Catherine Hunold (Aiénor), baritone Jérôme Boutillier (Richard) and actress Marie Vanhonnacker (Norah). Daniel Kawka conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Opéra de Limoges. Kristian Frédric directs.

The performance should last 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Today : world première of Lucia Ronchetti's 'Inferno' in Frankfurt

 

Today, the Oper Frankfurt presents the world première of Lucia Ronchetti's Inferno, an opera with a libretto by the composer based on Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia with an epilogue by Tiziano Scarpa.

 Lucia Ronchetti has already composed several works of music theatre, including Neumond (Mannheim, 2012), Mise en abyme (Dresden, 2015), Esame di mezzanotte (Mannheim, 2015), Rivale (Berlin, 2017) and Les aventures de Pinocchio (Rennes, 2019).

A man at rock bottom decides to search for the next world, journeying through Hell. (reproduced from the Oper Frankfurt website)

The cast includes actor Sebastian Kuschmann (Dante), mezzo Karolina Makula (Francesca), tenor Alexander Kravets (Ulisse) and bass Alfred Reiter (Lucifero). Tito Ceccherini conducts the Schumann String Quartet, the Opern- und Museumsorchester Frankfurt and a Vocal ensemble. Marcus Lobbes directs.

The performance should last about 1 hour and 45 minutes with no interval. The venue is the Bockenheimer Depot.

Today : world première of 'Les Sauvages' by Guillaume Hazebrouck in Nantes

 

Today, the Angers Nantes Opéra presents the world première of Les Sauvages, an opéra composed by Guillaume Hazebrouck with a libretto by Guillaume Lavenant.

 

It is the composer's first opéra.

A mysterious young woman settles in a park on the outskirts of the "neighbourhood". The "neighbourhood" is where they all live : the children and their gangs, the adults. They all surround the young woman and ask her what she came to do there. Soon, police, town planners, politicians join in : in this place between city and forest, it is necessary to keep control of the territory. But the intruder will shatter habits. (freely adapted from the Angers Nantes Opéra website)

The cast includes singer Laurène Pierre-Magnani (The Savage),  soprano Marie-Bénédicte Souquet (Leïla), beatboxer Julien Stella (Zéphyr), slammer Nina Kibuanda (The Mayor) and bass Agustin Perez Escalante (Donato). Rémi Durupt conducts the children choirs of Rosa Parks and Dervallières Chézine school, the Angers Nantes Opéra Chorus and the Frasques Ensemble. Guillaume Gatteau directs.

The venue is the Théâtre Graslin in Nantes. The performance should last 90 minutes.

New programme book in my collection : Singularity by Miroslav Srnka in Munich

 

Yesterday, I have received the programme book published by the Bavarian State Opera for the world première performance of Miroslav Srnka's Singularity.

 

It is a 112 pages book, It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;

- synopsis ;

- Ray Kurzweil : Mit dem Nanoroboter unterwegsin die Singularität ;

- Malte Krasting : Auf der Suche nach der beständigen Zeit ;

- discussion with stage director Nicolas Brieger ;

- Sören Sarbeck : Die Scham der Singularität ;

- the complete bilingual libretto (English and German) ;

- color photos of rehearsals ;

- biographies of the artists.

I have catalogued all my 1950 opera programme books on LibraryThing.

Today : world première of 'Singularity' by Miroslav Srnka in Munich

 

Today, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich presents the world première of Singularity, a Space Opera for Young Voices, composed by Miroslav Srnka with a libretto in English by Tom Holloway.

It is the composer's fourth opera after Wall (Berlin, 2005), Make No Noise (Munich, 2011) and South Pole (Munich, 2015).

It is a musical comedy about technical progress and its consequences for human cohabitation. Implantable microchips and nanotechnology open up new communication possibilities, but they make humanity prone to faults in the networked system. So what happens when an update gets out of control ? And what if artificial intelligence becomes superior to human intelligence ? The opera follows the traces of a not-so-improbable science fiction between earth and space, and also brings the comic sides of this theme to the stage. (reproduced from the Bavarian State Opera website)

The cast includes sopranos Eliza Bloom and Juliana Zara, mezzos Daria Proszek and Yajie Zhang, tenors George Virban and Andres Agudelo, baritones Andrew Hamilton and Theodore Platt. Patrick Hahn conducts the Klangforum Wien Orchestra. Nicholas Brieger directs.

The venue is the Cuvilliés-Theater. The performance should last about 80 mintues. The work is published by Bärenreiter.