Pierre Audi is the creator of the first edition of the Opera Forward Festival - OFF for short - which is being presented to the public for the first time as part of De Nationale Opera and its 50th anniversary. Opera as the art of inspiration is the underlying idea behind the ten-day festivities.
The School
During the Pre Launch OFF on Sunday 13 March at De School in Amsterdam, in a space you do not immediately associate with the glamorous opera world, the audience sat on very low school desks due to lack of chairs. On stage, the highlights of the ten-day were hastily announced. Hasty because there is so much to experience.
As a reward for two and a half hours of uncomfortable seating, the audience got tasty previews of live music, singing and talks with the creators, which gave an impression of the varied festival programme. Works from the eighteenth century stand alongside the latest world premieres, the lectures and seminars cover not only the future of the opera form but also singing, composing and making musical theatre with a focus on young talent. Big names have been named, such as Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, the director Peter Sellars, Dutch composer Michel van de Aa and world-renowned visual artist Julie Mehretu. The latter was even present during the conversation about the festival opening Only the Sound Remains by Saariaho along with American baritone Davone Tines and American primaballerina Nora Kimball-Mentzos, among others.
Future
The talks revealed that the art form of opera is teeming with current themes and that, like the times and people, the opera world is also changing. After more than four hundred years, in addition to updating old masters, there is a strong need to discover new visions, new possibilities and conquer a new - read younger - audience for opera. Compassion, dreams and, above all, creativity are of all times, so also of the future. Communication and mirroring are pushing forward in the ventures of young artists in particular. As if time demands of the audience to ask themselves: who am I really and what am I doing here? To hear an answer to these questions, I spoke to three artists present today after the event.
Thanasis Deligianis is a young Greek composer who has been living in the Netherlands for eight years. On Wednesday 16 March, he performs his latest piece, which is a collaborative effect of music, song and dance, or movement. 'My piece is still not finished, it still needs to grow but what I am working on at the moment is an interactive performance. I reverse the structure and become a listener and the audience is actively involved in a kind of musical theatre.' Deligianis experiments with a new form, he is concerned with understanding music individually and in its own way. The expression that is creatively transformed is the guiding factor for him.
Davone Tines, bass baritone, met Peter Sellars while still studying at New York's Julliard School. Hence, three years ago, the director asked him for this role in Kaija Saariaho's latest opera. 'This production has been a unique experience from day one. I was actually working on Mattheuw Aucoin's when Peter approached me. It was unexpected and, as always with Peter, it involved an unusual production. In the test-singing, I chose an "operatic" piece, meaning I sang a pop-like song in which I could show all my vocal capabilities. It was exactly what Peter was looking for. The opera is a two-man show where I get to sing alongside the great Philippe Jaroussky. A great honour for me. The parts were written by Saariaho especially for our voices. Great experience! I also think that in this opera the beauty of the ordinary creatively mirrors man in all his srtuggling in ordinary things. The audience comes to look at themselves in Only the sound remains, which can be a breathtaking adventure for the listener.'
Julie Mehretu, visual artist, immediately talks about a dream team. With no knowledge of opera, music or screenplay, she created the set design for Saariaho's premiere. 'During my work, I was inspired by the libretto, the words, the music did not yet exist, yet I stayed close to myself and did not really think of an opera setting. I am very curious to see how people will react to my abstract images. It's a difference whether you stand in front of a sculpture in the museum for a few minutes and choose when to stop looking or whether you sit in the gallery and stare at a sculpture for three quarters of an hour with music and dance trying to distract you. I see it as an opportunity to find out what that produces, how is the viewer going to experience it in relation to the abstraction of the image. '
The message for opera lovers is clear: open your heart and be stimulated in a different way. A modern opera is born!
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