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Opera Zuid, De Nationale Opera en de Nederlandse Reisopera presenteren Atman!, een muzikale vertelling die grenst aan het ongelooflijke.
De negenjarige Atman raakt verdwaald in zijn eigen stad. Hij heeft de sleutel van thuis op zak, maar weet niet meer waar hij woont. Op straat vraagt hij raad. Een man heeft geen tijd (‘Vraag het me morgen nog eens’). Een vrouw neemt hem mee (‘Jonges as jouw zijn goeie matroze’). Maar Atman wil naar huis, niet de oceaan over. Wat begint als een eenvoudig verzoek (‘Weet u welke kant ik op moet?’) wordt een tocht met omwegen en hindernissen die voor een jongen van negen soms onoverkomelijk lijken – of nee: zijn. Componist Leonard Evers en schrijver Bart Moeyaert geven deze reis vorm in muziek en taal.
One-man orchestra
Leonard Evers previously wrote the children’s opera Goud! for Opera Zuid and De Nationale Opera. It has been performed throughout Europe since 2012. His other operas include Odyssee and Kriebel (2+). In Atman!, Evers makes full use of the accordion’s potential: the ultimate one-man orchestra and wandering instrument.
For this production, he is collaborating with the acclaimed writer Bart Moeyaert, known for novels such as Broere and Een ander leven. His literary work has received international acclaim, and he has won, among other awards, the Flemish Culture Prize, the Woutertje Pieterse Prize and the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the highest honour in children’s literature. The libretto of Atman! was also published in book form and won the Woutertje Pieterse Prize for Children’s Literature in 2026.
Moeyaert on Atman!: ‘I felt the freedom to put music down on paper. Music in the sense of text that is rhythmically musical, that rhymes or doesn’t, that is atonal – at least in my view.’ For Evers, music is the gateway to a boundless world, where he encounters styles, characters and sometimes himself. With just one accordionist and one singer, he manages to bring this adventurous story to life. It is in this purity that the power of Atman! lies. ‘I hope that the audience will recognise something – a feeling – as if a light were coming on somewhere. That is the challenge for me as a composer: to ensure that everything that is said and felt on stage is also felt by the audience.’
Atman! is directed by Annemiek van Elst, who works with various national and international opera houses. In 2022, Van Elst created and directed the staged Liederabend Eternal Road at Opera Zuid, which explores the life of composer Kurt Weill.
Atman! is a co-production with Dutch National Opera and Nederlandse Reisopera.
Atman! duurt ongeveer één uur en wordt gezongen en gesproken in het Nederlands.
A CONVERSATION WITH COMPOSER LEONARD EVERS AND LIBRETTIST BART MOEYAERT
When writer Bart Moeyaert and composer Leonard Evers set to work, the piece becomes part of their lives. For a moment, nothing else exists. Atman!, a (youth) opera in which a young boy has lost his home, is the latest project to which they have devoted themselves. ‘If the children in the audience feel that they want to be part of the world unfolding on stage, then we’ve done a good job.’
Atman! is a brand-new opera. What is the story about?
Leonard: ‘Atman! is about feeling lost, about searching for a home.’
Bart: ‘What is home? A house with an “h” in front of it? The place where you were born, where you live, where you have breakfast? Or is it a feeling inside? Can you feel at home somewhere you don’t live, for example by thinking of your mother or the cat dozing on the windowsill?’
Leonard: ‘Bart gives that a very poetic, fairy-tale-like interpretation.’
And what will that sound like?
Leonard: ‘For me, music has always been the gateway to a truly adventurous and boundless world. I see composing as a quest, in which I’m open to all sorts of influences. The result is an account of an incredible experience in which I encounter all kinds of styles. I hope that the audience will recognise something in my music, as if a light were switching on somewhere. I try to achieve that by exploring how the character feels. What does an incredible craving for chips sound like to me, for example? From there, I start sketching and then I stay as close as possible to the rhythm of the language.’
Is there a message you’d like to convey to the audience?
Bart: ‘I’d love it if our audience reflected on: what is my home? That people take a moment after the show to think about what they’ve experienced in the theatre.’
Leonard: ‘The beauty of theatre is that, as a spectator, you find yourself in a world you don’t yet know. But one in which – if all goes well – you do recognise things or feel something you sometimes feel in real life too. Theatre enables you to experience and feel things that you might not normally dare to face or that you might normally suppress.’
Bart: ‘In the theatre, you agree: we’re going to believe what’s happening now and we’re not going to explain it. Perhaps tomorrow or in a week’s time you’ll realise: oh, that was it, that’s what it meant. That’s what I love about theatre.’
Leonard: ‘Music helps you not to want to explain everything straight away, but to first experience what’s happening. That’s the challenge for me as a composer: to ensure that everything that’s said and felt on stage is also felt by the audience.’
Is it different to write an opera for young people?
Bart: ‘I don’t write any differently just because it’s for young people. I write with a voice. I hear the voice of a little boy who’s about eight years old. He’s going to tell the story. Sometimes there’s a four-syllable word in there. Oops! [laughing] But because of the other words around it, you can actually understand that word. This opera is for everyone!’
Leonard: ‘I agree. But when composing for young people, I’m even more precise. Integrity in the music is even more important. With children, I really have to be completely myself, otherwise they won’t buy it. Of course, that’s true for adults too, but they don’t walk out during a performance to do something more interesting. A younger audience does!’
Bart: ‘That reminds me of a performance of Die Zauberflöte I saw in Frankfurt. A quarter of the audience were children, and it was the children who stripped the adults of their veneer. They stood on their chairs, tugged at their parents’ sleeves: look over there, listen! That staid atmosphere of ‘opera is serious’ was completely shattered. That’s what I want.’
Leonard: ‘At a performance of my show Kriebel, which I created together with Oorkaan, a little girl ran onto the stage to dance with the dancer. Her mother pulled her away immediately. I thought that was such a shame! That’s exactly what you want: for your audience to feel so drawn to that world that they think: I want to be part of that, I belong there.’
Bart: ‘My text says something like: come closer, come and join me.’
So there’ll be one accordionist, one singer and as many as 100 children on stage who want to get involved?
Leonard: ‘Yes, you have to have that feeling! If I’m not that involved in what’s happening on stage, then something’s wrong.’
Bart: ‘Or I’m so overwhelmed that I just let it wash over me – with my mouth open – and then I’ll do something with it later. That’s nice too.’
