“Such collaborations are not limited to the Opera Forward Festival. The youth production Lennox, for example, is a co-production with the urban arts centre RIGHTABOUTNOW INC. Together, we approached the producer and multiinstrumentalist Bnnyhunna to create his first opera with us. With projects like OUM, Lennox and the family opera How Anansi freed the stories of the world, we are telling stories that have rarely been heard in our theatre before. Such stories appeal to both new and existing audiences.” But doesn’t the past also play a key role in an opera season? Just think about the place that the standard repertoire takes in the season. “The past is certainly important to us, but we never take it for granted. When tackling the repertoire, our concern is always to invite audiences to reflect on the present and the future. That’s why we place so much importance on a director’s vision for an opera from the core repertoire. We don’t want to present reconstructions; we want to create modern-day artworks with modern-day performers who reflect on the past and look to the future. This is strongly evident in Le lacrime di Eros. Director Romeo Castellucci and musical director Raphaël Pichon draw on material from opera’s origins to create an entirely new and experimental work. Raphaël and Romeo are both outstanding and groundbreaking artists with a profound feeling for tradition. I believe they epitomise the idea that you must be aware of the past to know what you are seeking in the future.” “The new opera We Are The Lucky Ones also combines historical awareness with a focus on the future, although it takes a different approach. Composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman have consistently explored new forms of opera-making in their previous collaborations. For their newest opera, they are collaborating with playwright Nina Segal on a text based on dozens of interviews with people who were born in the 1940s. They let that generation speak while also reflecting on what the interviewees keep quiet about or overlook. We Are The Lucky Ones reflects on the legacy passed on to us by our parents and investigates how we should deal with this in the decades to come.” The final question – What peace? – seems to express a longing for silence, harmony and calm. But surely conflict is what fuels drama, making it the essential source of opera as an art form? Doesn’t theatre revolve around torn feelings? “It’s certainly a fact that dramas need tension and conflict. But it’s equally important for there to be a desire to resolve the conflict, both among the characters and in the audience. The opera Idomeneo is set in the aftermath of the devastating Trojan War. The characters are yearning for peace and happiness, but fate – or their past – seems to prevent that. In this production by choreographer and director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, that is symbolised by red cords literally dominating the space, in a design by the artist Chiharu Shiota. At the end, a higher power cuts through the inextricable knot of the conflict, allowing peace to finally return.” Even so, the character Elettra is left unhappy at the end – a potential source for a new conflict. “There are operas where every wrinkle is ironed out at the end, but isn’t it more realistic for something to remain unresolved? Take Die ersten Menschen, the only opera by the brilliant composer Rudi Stephan, who tragically died young. This is an opera that explores the ‘original family’ of Adam and Eve. People sometimes idealise the family as the foundation of peace. But this opera suggests that this supposed ‘cornerstone of society’ is full of contradictory urges that inevitably lead to conflict. The opera’s title (‘The first humans’) says a lot: struggle is as old as humanity itself, I fear. outsider. They ask us to think about who we take seriously in our society. Who do we accept and who do we reject?” The second question posed in the season’s theme is: ‘What future?’ Let’s first talk about the future of opera itself. How is that reflected in your decisions when programming a season? “One very direct way of working towards the future is to create opportunities for young performers. This season, the young singers of Dutch National Opera Studio will be touring with a programme that includes Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. We will be doing this together with our partner companies Nederlandse Reisopera and Opera Zuid. These tours offer singers a wealth of experience.” “However, working towards the future is, of course, much more than simply introducing new talent to the old repertoire. For the development of opera, it is essential that we do not retreat behind the well-known boundaries of the genre. The Opera Forward Festival provides a moment during the season where we explore, push and sometimes simply ignore those boundaries. Collaboration is essential in this regard: we seek interaction with artists and cultural institutions outside the ‘opera bubble’. To give an example, this season we are creating the production OUM in partnership with Theater de Meervaart and the Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest. As in previous years, we will also be working with students from various performing arts schools who will be bringing their own lived experiences when tackling the genre. You really feel the energy and urge of this new generation during the festival.” “ I hope your world expands through what you experience in our productions” 16 Opera
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