Dutch National Opera’s new season poses three questions as its overarching theme. What do these questions mean for DNO? And how do they connect with the productions that have been programmed? DNO director, Sophie de Lint, in conversation with dramaturges Wout van Tongeren and Luc Joosten, reflects on this season’s theme and how it came about. Sophie de Lint about the new opera season Could you explain where this theme comes from: What aim, what future, what peace? “We took this line from the opera Peter Grimes. The title character is a fisherman, an outsider who believes he will only be accepted by the village community if he is successful at sea. But in his obsession with this idea, he further alienates himself from the others. Ellen Orford, a fellow villager who cares about him, confronts him at a certain moment with the words: ‘What aim, what future, what peace will your hard profits buy?’ Not only is Grimes challenged by Ellen’s question, but so are we. It’s a line that urges you to stop and think. What are our aims, what future do we want and what do we need in order to feel at peace with ourselves and with others? Will all our struggles and efforts really bring our dreams closer to reality? This is what a season theme can do: inspire you to reconsider what previously may have seemed self-evident.” Let’s tackle the first question straight away: What aim? What is DNO’s aim when programming a season? “In the end, it’s all about connecting. That may sound generic but it’s indeed what happens at the start of a programming process. Our work revolves around creating connections, among performers, and between artistic teams and opera titles. Beneath these connections lie important questions about what views on humanity and society we present in our opera house. Which performers do we put on the stage? And which audience members feel addressed by them? That brings me to perhaps the most important connection of all, the one with our audiences in the theatre.” “A theatre is an unusual space, a sort of capsule. If you’re in the audience, you sit in a protected space, your phone is turned off, your senses are heightened. You are united with the people around you as you collectively focus on what’s happening on stage. We want the experience of our audience to be meaningful. Of course, it’s wonderful to indulge in the beauty of an opera, but I hope our productions will also inspire you to look at humanity and society differently and that your world expands through what you experience.” Could you give an example? “Take Die Frau ohne Schatten. The libretto tells a mystical tale set in a somewhat oriental fairy-tale world. Strauss’s phenomenal score is in the best possible hands with our former chief conductor Marc Albrecht. But how do you ensure modern-day audiences feel compelled to draw parallels between this fairy tale world and their own reality? Stage director Katie Mitchell is particularly adept at relating a fantastical opera like this to raw reality. In an impressive setting devoid of exoticism or romanticism, she effectively conveys the urgent message of this opera: those who wish to be fully human must be guided by compassion. I have high expectations for this combination of conductor, opera and director.” Moving on to the opera that gives the season its theme: how did this combination of artists and opera come about in the case of Peter Grimes? “Peter Grimes began with the longcherished wish of our current chief conductor Lorenzo Viotti to conduct this amazing score. His previous collaboration with director Barbora Horáková was so inspiring that he was very keen to work with her again. When we suggested Peter Grimes to her, the spark ignited. She is fascinated by the complex personality of the main protagonist and by the dynamics in the community that rejects him. For tenor Issachah Savage, Peter Grimes is a dream role that he’s looking forward to shaping together with Barbora. Thus, all the ingredients come together for a new production that will poignantly convey the central question of this opera: how do we deal with those who do not fit into a group.” “These issues are also reflected in the significant role the chorus plays in this opera, not just vocally but also dramatically, as the village community that rejects Peter Grimes. In this role, the chorus confronts us with mechanisms of exclusion that are unfortunately all too familiar. It is apt that another of our productions, Verdi’s Rigoletto, also features an outcast as the protagonist, namely the jester Rigoletto. He, like Peter Grimes, is mocked and ostracised by the people around him. Both operas call on audiences to empathise with the perspective of an 15
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