Neighbor Day 2022
Category Archive:News
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Neighbor Day 2022
Comments Off on Neighbor Day 2022Opera Zuid is celebrating Neighbors’ Day again this year! The day on which you can get together with the neighborhood, organized by Douwe Egberts and the Oranje Fonds. Neighborhoods become nicer, more social and safer when neighbors meet and work together for their neighbourhood.
Are you participating? Come with the whole family free to our family opera Het Lijflied on Saturday 24 September. Fun for everyone from 6 years to 106 years. Enjoy the beautiful sounds of soprano Anna Emelianova while enjoying a cup of coffee!
Het Lijflied
In Het Lijflied you enter Ina’s body and discover together with her the wonderful sound universe that her organs create. You hear typical body sounds such as the bubbling of her stomach, the beating of her amorous heart and the simmering of her intestines, but also unknown sounds such as brain waves.
Every organ has its own music. Ina’s stomach makes mechanical music, her heart sings in a romantic nineteenth-century opera style, while her intestines make themselves heard in fits and starts in a spastic language.
“I hope that in Het Lijflied children discover how rich and wonderful their inner world is, in which everything is connected”, says director Alma Terrasse.
General info
The performance starts at 2 p.m. and takes place in our own Studio Malpertuis. The entry is free, so registration is not necessary. The address of the studio is: Malpertuisplein 60, 6217 CD Maastricht. See you Saturday September 24!
More information about Het Lijflied can you here.
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WijkJury Maastricht nominations 2022
Comments Off on WijkJury Maastricht nominations 2022Opera Zuid has housed the new District Jury Maastricht since October 2021. They visited performances in the Theater aan het Vrijthof, and had – sometimes heated – jury deliberations at our house. Despite lockdowns in the theater, our Neighborhood Jury was able to see and discuss enough to select three nominations from the performances visited…
Whoever is the favorite will be announced in August!
SHORTLIST
The three nominations of WijkJury Maastricht:
Een Meeuw, by Toneelgroep Maastricht.
Een Meeuw is an edit of ‘De Meeuw’ van Tjechov, by Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer.
In a setting in which the different seasons follow each other on the estate, we see a painful history of several relatives and friends who search for love and cannot find it. They seem like people who don’t really know how to live, often very funny, but also sad. It was a long sitting: 2 hours and 10 minutes without a break, but every minute of it was worth it. We saw strong actors with beautiful roles. Beautiful themes that are very recognizable to us, such as unrequited love, family ties, the meaning of life and the search for love. We really enjoyed.
GIF, by Carine Crutzen and Stefan de Walle.
A performance about an exciting and emotional meeting after years between two ex-partners who have lost their child. We thought it was very clever to see the two, in a decor of almost nothing but ugly funeral chairs and a gloomy winter landscape in the background, show how they slowly but surely get closer to each other on the other side of the emotional spectrum. A performance about love, too.
It affected jurors, also because the inability to let go of a deceased was recognized. One juror says: “I wanted to know how they would do, how they go on with life.”
Slachthuis Vijf, Theater Rotterdam.
It is a poignant story of Billy Pilgrim who -travelling through time- relives the bombing of Dresden. The jury is impressed by the performance of the protagonist Bram Sugar, who has behaved very well for almost the entire play, and the Humanity with which he does this is striking. We were sucked into it. It is an impressive story about processing traumatic war memories in a great stage setting with blinding white and red lights, and almost aching fiery streaks of light that seem like timelines that Billy traverses…
Thanks to it Theater aan het Vrijthof and Female Economy.
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Interview with Jan Wouters & Kristina Bitenc
Comments Off on Interview with Jan Wouters & Kristina BitencIn the romantic opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the kingdom of fairy king Oberon turns into a playground for love. Oberon and Titania are the only stable relationship in this opera, where everyone falls in love with everyone. Although, stable? They fight each other out of the tent. A conversation with Jan Wouters (Oberon) and Kristina Bitenc (Titania) about love.
How do you describe the relationship between Oberon and Titania?
Jan: ‘Oberon mainly exercises power and wants to control everything that Titania does. He sees his wife as a tool. Everything she owns, he may own.’
Kristina: ‘As a mother, Titania fights for the protection of her children. She is constantly on guard and doesn’t let Oberon get too close to the kids. Often that goes well and she can compete with her husband, but in Oberon’s hands she sometimes suddenly turns into a puppet doll.’
Jan: ‘Titania cannot resist Oberon’s magic. We start as two equal characters. But Titania very quickly assumes the protective mother role, changing the hierarchy.’
What’s it like to argue on stage?
Jan: ‘I find anger to be the easiest emotion to play verbally. You do have to trust each other to fully immerse yourself in the music and make an argument seem real. Such a scene is very intense. I have learned to use things from my private life to convey feelings but not show the specific part of it. With two older sisters, I remember very well what arguing is like.’
Kristina: ‘I experience arguing as a dance. One pass brings you close together, the next drives you apart. I hardly ever fight at home. So I have to look elsewhere for this emotion and come up with a situation to empathize with.’
What makes A Midsummer Night’s Dream still relevant today?
Kristina: ‘Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1600, but since then the dynamics and relationships between people have hardly changed. There are also social themes in this opera that are still topical; from homophilia and pedophilia to motherhood and feminism.’
Jan: ‘The piece shows that something can change with every snap of the fingers. The drop of magic juice is literally the drop that breaks the camel’s back or the drop of a new beginning. The opening scene with a divorce over a child is also still relevant. Parents think they are doing this out of love for their child, but that is of course not entirely true. ‘
How do you see love yourself?
Kristina: ‘When I see my parents, who have been together for almost 40 years, still walking hand in hand, I believe in monogamous love. Love to me is trust, that you can remain yourself in a relationship and that the other makes you a better person.’
‘I’m monogamous too. If things are going well at home, you don’t have to look any further.’
Jan: ‘That’s what I call love. You can feel love for many people and things; friends, children, flowers. But love can only be projected on one person. It starts with love, which can turn into infatuation.’
Kristina: ‘Funny, I see it exactly the other way around. Infatuation can develop into love. Love follows a constant long line, in which you are sometimes in love and sometimes you are not.’
Jan: ‘Look, then we have something to argue about.’
INFO & TICKETS: www.operazuid.nl/amnd
Interview: Manon Berns
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Interview Ola Mafaalani
Comments Off on Interview Ola MafaalaniShe is also called the Empress of theatrical fantasy. Ola Mafaalani directs A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten, based on the famous comedy by William Shakespeare. In her direction, not only all senses but also essential issues are addressed. “This opera shows how cruel we can be in the name of love.”
You are a well-known and idiosyncratic theater director. This is your second opera direction and debut with Opera Zuid. How did it come your way?
‘I am often told that I direct theater as if it were opera. I can’t read a note, but I feel the music. You can see that musical rhythm in the editing, the light and the texts in my performances. When I said that I would like to direct a film or opera, invitations immediately followed.’
How do you feel about Benjamin Britten’s music?
‘His music is very minimalistic and only indicates something, an androgynous tone color that fills in almost nothing. As a listener you float and color the music with your own biography of love. Like a dish that smells delicious, but only reveals itself on your tongue.’
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not only a treat for the eyes and ears, but for all the senses. Why choose this approach?
‘When I see something, an experience flows through my body. I don’t have a language to express that feeling, but the tonal layers in music have exactly the same frequency. That’s why I’m such an opera lover; opera has the language to represent all sensory experiences.’
What do you hope to achieve with this sensory experience for the audience?
‘The children’s choir doesn’t just come on and sing, but bake and cook while singing. Together with a cook they melt chocolate and play with it, flour flies around. It is my association with unconditional love as experienced by children. They do not yet know the romantic love the play is about. When you see those children at work, you yourself experience that full love for everything around you. It is my need to let this opera be your own love affair. Opera did not originate as an elitist art form. It started in the middle of society as a translation of a normal life like yours and mine.’
What does A Midsummer Night’s Dream say about our lives?
‘This opera describes our love life in all its forms and is about what we cannot see. It is a dream in which nightmare and paradise alternate. Fairy King Oberon’s drop of magic juice is our own life situation. Do you know why you fall in love with one and not the other? Love is just as Britten and Shakespeare describe it: an inexplicable drop.’
Beautiful is not enough for you. What essential issue do you think A Midsummer Night’s Dream addresses?
‘A Midsummer Night’s is a social piece about selfishness within love. It’s not for nothing that it starts with a fight divorce over a young child. And what about the law that decides who you can love? That has nothing to do with love. The opera shows how cruel we can be in the name of love. We can make our partner’s life hell and still say “I love you”. But these words carry an obligation. That goes for all your relationships. And here lies the connection with society. A politician, for example, has an integrity obligation towards his citizens. Don’t just think about your career, but also about the for whom and why of your actions.’
You have often directed plays by Shakespeare. What does he mean to you?
‘I have been in love with Shakespeare for so long, a man full of playfulness, vitality and poetry. In high school, we read Shakespeare sonnets in English class and I couldn’t understand a word of it. And yet I was enchanted, because his words touched my soul. Now that I’m working on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I feel like a medium of Shakespeare. I can’t talk to him, but I can interpret his texts and build on them. We are a team. I go to bed with him and wake up with him every day. And Britten is in between.’ Ola Mafaalani laughs exuberantly. “Monogamy became polygamy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’
For more information about A Midsummer Night’s Dream, click here.
Interview: Manon Berns
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Cancellation of performances Orphée | L’Amour | Eurydice in Maastricht and Eindhoven
Comments Off on Cancellation of performances Orphée | L’Amour | Eurydice in Maastricht and EindhovenCovid-19 is throwing a spanner in the works regarding the performances on March 11, 12 and 13 in Maastricht, which we have to cancel due to illness. The intended playground in Eindhoven, the Microlab at Strijp S, has been designated by the municipality as a reception location for refugees from the Ukraine. We regret that we also have to cancel the performances on March 18, 19 and 20 in Eindhoven, but of course we fully understand the decision of the municipal council.
It is being investigated whether the performances can be resumed at a later stage.
Visitors who have already purchased tickets will be reimbursed for the purchase amount via the Theater aan het Vrijthof and the Parktheater Eindhoven.
O | A | E is a co-production of Opera Zuid, Nederlandse Reisopera, Dutch National Opera & Ballet, M31 Foundation and WeMakeVR.
More inforamtion about O | A | E.
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Opbrengsten O | A | E naar Hart voor Oekraïne
Comments Off on Opbrengsten O | A | E naar Hart voor OekraïneZoals velen zijn wij diep geschokt door de ontwikkelingen in Oekraïne. We maken ons grote zorgen over de gevolgen van de grootscheepse vijandelijkheden in Oekraïne voor de inwoners van het land. Om hen te steunen doneren alle vijf partners de opbrengsten van de Orphée | L’Amour | Eurydice voorstellingen tijdens het Opera Forward Festival aan Giro 555 van de Samenwerkende Hulporganisaties voor de opvang van Oekraïense vluchtelingen. Wij nodigen je uit om zelf ook een bijdrage te doen op Giro 555. Doneer hier.
Deze actie is onderdeel van de landelijke campagne 🧡rt for Ukraine van het culturele veld.
Tijdens O | A | E kies jijzelf door wiens ogen je het liefdesverhaal beleeft: zanger en gitarist Orphée (inclusief VR-bril!) óf danseres Eurydice. De derde ervaring, Amour, is inbegrepen bij de tickets van beide perspectieven.
5 t/m 7 maart is OAE te beleven tijdens het Opera Forward Festival. Volgende week zaterdag en zondag is OAE te zien in onze eigen Studio Malpertuis!INFO&TICKETS: operazuid.nl/o-a-e
Coproductie met Nederlandse Reisopera, De Nationale Opera – Dutch National Opera, WeMakeVR en M31 Foundation. -
Annulering première Orphée | L’Amour | Eurydice
Comments Off on Annulering première Orphée | L’Amour | EurydiceIn verband met de verwachte storm Eunice zijn helaas de vier voorstellingen van O|A|E op vrijdag 18 februari gecanceld. Bezoekers krijgen hierover bericht. De geplande voorstellingen van zaterdag 19 en zondag 20 februari in Enschede gaan wel gewoon door.
Overige tourdata zijn hier te vinden.
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Orphée | l’Amour | Eurydice on tour!
Comments Off on Orphée | l’Amour | Eurydice on tour!What does love look like today? Inspired by Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera Orphée et Eurydice, opera maker Robin Coops and VR pioneer Avinash Changa investigate in a three-part opera experience.
In this version of the myth, Orpheus and Eurydice are not separated by death, but by a fate that affects many present-day relationships: the lovers have lost each other. They no longer communicate directly with each other, only via text message with L’Amour, the personification of love, who also no longer knows how to properly fulfill their role as mediator.
Orphée | L’Amour | Eurydice is a collaboration project between the Nederlandse Reisopera, Dutch National Opera and Opera Zuid in the field of talent development, in co-production with WeMakeVR and M31 Foundation.
INFO & TICKETS: operazuid.nl/o-a-e
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Tenor Rafael Rojas passed away
Comments Off on Tenor Rafael Rojas passed awayThe sad news reached us that Tenor Rafael Rojas has passed away at the age of 59. Rojas, born in Mexico, sang the role of Dick Johnson/Ramerrez in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West with Opera Zuid in 2001. We wish his loved ones a lot of strength with this loss.
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Interview with director Julien Chavaz
Comments Off on Interview with director Julien ChavazRoméo et Juliette is a love story between two people from rival families. Director Julien Chavaz turned the opera into a contemporary love story. A story of today! “In my production I play with the question of what you can and cannot show in public.”
How do you bring this time-honored love story to the present day?
“In my experience, Romeo et Juliette is about the constant field of tension between public and private. In directing we play with these different perspectives. One moment you are witnessing everything from the two families, who are fighting each other in public. Then to switch to the intimate perspective of Roméo and Juliette, who meet in secret. The decor is also based on this change of perspective. It’s like looking out the window one minute and surveying the entire city and peeking through a keyhole the next.”
How does this compare to our time where social media makes just about everything public?
‘In the piece I reflect on the question of what you can and cannot show in public. We are used to everyone displaying their entire life on Instagram and Facebook. I occasionally drop a curtain on stage, behind which characters disappear. The audience hears that something is happening, but is not part of it. That arouses curiosity.”
As a director you are known for giving rhythm to an opera. How do you do that in this opera?
First of all, the rhythm must be in balance between the large choral scenes and the intimate solo singing, but also between the musical transitions between the scenes. I use these musical transitions without vocals to tell more than is written on paper. I show the story from a different perspective and have characters come back to create magic and mystery. The audience gets to know the characters in a more intimate way than is possible in the action-oriented storyline. Thanks to the magic and mystery, despite knowing the storyline, the audience continues to ask themselves questions.”
Does this mean that the opera is a recreation of Roméo et Juliette?
‘I make all these choices about rhythm and structure together with the conductor. While we should not lose sight of the fact that the original material of this opera is, of course, already Gounod’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s text. That makes opera art. In my view, art is the constant reassembly and transformation of existing material. An opera is never finished, it is an ongoing process.”
What role do the singers play in this transformation?
In this opera, the body language of the singers is fundamental. An opera can only take the listener on a three-hour journey if the singer’s body is completely connected to the music and lyrics. Opera singers are not ballet dancers, so what matters to me is that singers use their bodies in a personal and abstract way. What I hear, I want to see reflected in the bodies. Only in this way does the energy come across to the public. Otherwise you might as well listen to a CD.”
INFO & TICKETS: operazuid.nl/romeo-juliette
Interview: Manon Berns