Photo: Michiel Spijkers Tip for the Christmas holidays (8+) Sung in Dutch Libretto Bart Moeyaert Stage direction Annemiek van Elst Set design Douwe Hibma Dramaturgy Wout van Tongeren, Joep Hupperetz Co-production with Nederlandse Reisopera and Opera Zuid Founding partner programming Studio Boekman Nine-year-old Atman had not expected ever to get lost in his own town. He has got the key to his home in his pocket, but he has momentarily forgotten where he lives exactly. He asks people in the street for advice. A man doesn’t have any time (“Ask me again tomorrow”). A woman takes him with her (“Boys like you make good sailors”). But Atman wants to go home, not out to sea. What starts as a simple request (“Do you know which way I should go?”) turns into a trip with detours and obstacles that seem — and indeed are — sometimes insurmountable for a boy aged nine. One-person orchestra Composer and conductor Leonard Evers loves theatre and has previously written family operas for companies including Dutch National Opera and Zurich Opera House. His family opera Goud! has been performed all over Europe since its premiere in 2012 and has been on the programme in Amsterdam on several occasions. For this new opera, he exploits all the possibilities offered by the accordion: the ultimate one-person orchestra and the perfect instrument to be played on the move. Evers had long wanted to create an opera together with Belgian author Bart Moeyaert, known from such books as Broere and Een ander leven. Moeyaert had previously collaborated with musicians such as violinist Janine Jansen and the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. His work has won numerous awards including the Flemish Culture Prize, the Woutertje Pieterse Prize and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Talented director Annemiek van Elst, who created the production of Eternal Road for Opera Zuid, will be responsible for the staging. Youth opera about a trip full of obstacles A singer, an accordion player and an unfindable home. Those elements are all that is needed to take you on a musical journey that verges on the incredible. Composer Leonard Evers – known at Dutch National Opera for the operas Goud! and Kriebel – has partnered with celebrated author Bart Moeyaert for this new production. Premiere 21/12/2025 Subsequent performances: 22*, 24*, 27*, 27, 28*, 28, 29*, 30* December 2025, 2*, 3*, 4* January 2026 | Curtain-up: 16:00 / *13:30 | Ticket sales start on: 8 May 2025 | Prices: see page 125 | Location: Studio Boekman, Dutch National Opera & Ballet “ A roof’s made of tiles, of canvas or brick, or just sometimes of sky” Quote from Atman! (translated) Funds Do you, just like Fonds 21, want to support our youth productions such as Atman!, talent development programmes and other special projects? Scan the QR code or visit operaballet.nl/en/support/funds 35
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