Performance today : world première of Dai Fujikura's 'Solaris' in Paris

Today, I attended the world première performance of Dai Fujikura's opera Solaris, with a libretto by Sabuto Teshigawara after Stanislas Lem's novel, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

It started with silent prelude you had to watch with special glasses. I guess it was supposed to show the journey through the stars to the planet Solaris, but it was rather ineffective. Then the music started, played by the Ensemble InterContemporain (14 musicians ensemble specialized in contemporary music) conducted by Erik Nielsen. The score is an interesting one, not by the pure musical sounds they had to play (as in Le Petit Prince by Michaël Levinas) but by the live electronic device conceived by IRCAM for this opera : it changed original sound to new one that was also projected around the theater through loudspeakers.

Unfortunately, these efforts to design an appropriate sound landscape for this journey to the depths of human sould were ruined by the ineffective staging by librettist-director-choreographer-set-costumes-and-light-designer-dancer Saburo Teshigawara. The unique set was a large box (no props) using all the space stage with the exception of a small part in front of it. The singers were always standing still in front of the box (or at some very specific moments, in the box), while dancers (one for each singer) were 'acting' in the box. The whole evening rather looked like a ballet performance with singers and orchestra, rather than a real opera. This new work definitely deserves a more appropriate staging.

The program book (88 pages) contains :

- complete cast,
- complete crew,
- introduction to the opera,
- synopsis (in French and English),
- an article on the composition of the opera, by Bastien Gallet,
- an article on the opera, by Jérémie Szpirglas,
- an article on Saburo Teshigawara, by Philippe Noisette,
- 'Seeing the unconceivable', by Ulf Langheinrich,
- biographies of all artists, with color photos,
- the complete libretto, in English and French.

A second booklet (48 pages) includes black and white photos of rehearsals.
The two performances in Paris are recorded by France Musique and there should be a broadcast in the next few months, probably on Monday.

Today : World première of 'Solaris' by Dai Fujikura in Paris

Today, the first opera composed by Dai Fujikura, Solaris, with a libretto in English by Saburo Teshigawara after Stanislas Lem's novel, will be performed in Paris.

 

The cast includes Sarah Tynan (soprano, Hari), Leigh Melrose (baritone, Kris Kelvin), Tom Randle (tenor, Snaut), Callum Thorpe (bass, Gibarian), and Marcus Farnsworth (baritone, off stage Kelvin). The Ensemble InterContemporain is conducted by Erik Nielsen. Saburo Teshigawara directs.

The book centers upon the themes of the nature of human memory, experience and the ultimate inadequacy of communication between human and non-human species. In probing and examining the oceanic surface of the planet Solaris from a hovering research station the human scientists are, in turn, being studied by the sentient planet itself, which probes for and examines the thoughts of the human beings who are analyzing it. Solaris has the ability to manifest their secret, guilty concerns in human form, for each scientist to personally confront. (reproduced from en.wikipedia.org)

The orchestra is the following :

- 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon

- 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone

- 1 percussionist, 1 celesta, strings, and live electronics.

The opera should last about 90 minutes. It will be performed in Lille later this month, and in Lausanne in April. It is at least the fourth opera composed after Lem's novel, after Michael Obst (Munich, 1996), Henry Correggia (Torino, 2011) and Detlev Glanert (Bregenz, 2012). The work is published by Ricordi Berlin.

New Season 2014-2015 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris

For the first time in more than 25 years, the program of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées includes a world premiere.

With only 5 staged opera productions, general director Michel Franck manages to compete directly with larger opera houses, simply because he presents operas that are not performed by other opera houses in Paris.

The 2014-2015 season includes 5 operas :

- Jean-Philippe Rameau : Castor et Pollux (new production), no production in Paris in the last 25 years ;

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : La Clemenza di Tito (new production) ;

- Dai Fujikura : Solaris (world première) ;

- Giuseppe Verdi : Macbeth (new production) ;

- Gaetano Donizetti : Maria Stuarda (production from Houston, April 2012).

As usual, a number of operas will also be performed in concert : 

- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Alcina, with Joyce DiDonato ;

- Jules Massenet : Cléopâtre, with Sophie Koch and Ludovic Tézier ;

- Gioachino Rossini : Semiramide, with Elena Mosuc and Michele Pertusi ;

- Agostino Steffani : Niobe, with Karina Gauvin and Philippe Jaroussky ;

- Gioachino Rossini : Guillaume Tell, with Nicola Alaimo and Annick Massis ;

- Gioachino Rossini : L’Occasione fa il ladro, with Roberto de Candia and Désirée Rancatore ;

- Georg Friedrich Haendel : Hercules, with Matthew Rose and Alice Coote.

In the 2013-2014 season were performed, among others, Gaspare Spontini’s La Vestale, Gioacchino Rossini’s Otello (with Cecilia Bartoli) and Tancredi (with Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Patrizia Ciofi) and Giacomo Puccini’s Le Villi.