'If Mohammed doesn't come to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed,' they thought at Operadagen Rotterdam. Earlier this year, the Enschede-based Nederlandse Reisopera gave a press presentation at Carré. This time, the Rotterdammers travelled to the capital. Artistic director Guy Coolen and dramaturge Tobias Kokkelmans told a select club of journalists what audiences were expecting from 18-27 May awaits.
Despite the very limited budget - just over a million - they have managed to programme a diverse festival. This year's theme is 'Heroism', which, incidentally, is interpreted broadly. Coolen: "To get a subsidy, you have to work with four-year plans. We have chosen the hero's journey for the current period, to give ourselves and the audience something to hold on to. It is not meant to be a rigid fill-in exercise.'
Hero's journey in four stages
Kokkelmans: 'The classic hero's journey follows four stages in all cultures. He/she leaves - last year's theme -, encounters obstacles, undergoes a metamorphosis and returns. Coming festival, we zoom in on the courage needed to face obstacles along the way. The theme is also a junction between tradition - read repertoire - and topicality. Thus, in addition to The Border By Ekaterina Levental the performance Iyov, an opera-requiem on the Bible book of Job.'
Traditionally, the city of Rotterdam plays a major role in the programming. Alongside the regular theatres are special venues, often with performances created specifically for them. For instance, during the opening concert Earth Diver choral music by Heinrich Schütz at the New Luxor Theatre. But as a 'total experience' directed by Wouter van Looy. The singers sing Schütz's comforting music standing around the audience, while video footage shows desperately digging miners.
Rotterdam underwater
At the same time, TP Loods Merwehaven is hosting the family show Beast. Kokkelmans: 'This is a real city project in which all Rotterdammers can participate. It is part of a larger project, The Ring of Resilience, somewhat with a nod to Wagner. What do you do when the city floods in 2020? Like Wotan, do you imagine yourself safe while the world perishes, or are you on the other side? Like the girl who has to survive after the catastrophe without all the achievements of modern times.'
Meeting place
Kokkelmans and Coolen stress that Operadagen Rotterdam wants to be a meeting place for audiences and makers. Somewhat gloomily, they note that their festival is one of the few places where experimentation is still possible. 'Things are allowed to go wrong with us too,' says Coolen. 'There is an incredible amount of talent, but the traditional theatres play it safe. As a result, we are inundated with proposals, which we can only partly honour.'
Leap into the dark
A leap of faith, for example, is the performance Mzungu by Dutch-Tanzanian singer Nienke Nasserian Nillesen. She is the daughter of a Masai tribal chief. On a visit to her homeland, she was found to have 34 siblings. She took one of her brothers to the Netherlands and revisits our country, through his eyes. This is how Mzungu About living between two worlds, with different customs and loyalties.
Song of Songs as an indictment
Exciting will also be Canticum Canticorum. Collegium Vocale Gent and Champ d'Action perform the Song of Songs as a protest against social truncation and erected walls. Kokkelmans: 'The Song of Songs is the most translated but least understood book of the Bible. It is about the return of the Jews to The Promised Land, where there was a purification of alien elements. While the text is erotic, the woman speaking is actually an outcast - "Nigra sum, I am black", she says, "just deal with the fact that I am here". The performance is feminist on the one hand, but at the same time it addresses the issue of diversity.'
Operadagen Rotterdam also wants to be a festival that entices people to push their own musical boundaries. For example, in the mini-festival Operaland at Pentecost in Schiedam's Noletloodsen. 'This is where the most famous gin in the world used to be distilled,' says Kokkelmans. Mozart's Così fan tutte is next to music by Claude Vivier. 'People are often grateful to us for such combinations,' says Coolen. 'They like to be surprised. Sometimes they even complain when we perform a traditional opera, because they already know it.'
Billy the Kid and Calamity Jane
There are three world premieres. Rob Zuidam sets for Mary Stuart some of Joseph Brodsky's sonnets about the Scottish monarch set to music. Gavin Bryars composes Billy after Billy the Kid, for French singer Bertrand Belin and American-Dutch Claron McFadden. His piece will be performed as double bill with Calamity Jane by Ben Johston. Annelies van Parys writes new work for Songs of Love and War on texts by Gaea Schoeters, for Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. Het Geluid Maastricht is responsible for the staging, which includes love lyrics by Monteverdi and Vivier.
Talent show
The first-ever event organised last year Gala!, in which young creators can compete for a prize is being rerun due to success. In 2017, winners included the Ragazze Quartet and Nora Fischer. 'That was noticed as far away as New York,' Coolen says proudly. 'They are returning to us this year.'
Operadagen Rotterdam wants to be a springboard for young talent and for people with guts. Coolen: 'We do a lot of things with (too) little money. That is why we jokingly call ourselves the "Bluff Festival". We often don't know until the very last moment whether something can go ahead.' He concludes with a quote from American-British poet T.S. Eliot. 'Only those who risk going too far know how far they can go.'
Opera Days Rotterdam, 18-27 May 2018, info and tickets here.
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