Opera by Pascal Dusapin
Libretto Pascal Dusapin / Rita de Letteriis
A Choreography by Sasha Waltz
Following on from »Dido & Aeneas« (2005), »Medea« and »Roméo et Juliette« (2007) Sasha Waltz is with »Passion” again developing a choreographic opera. Like »Medea« a contemporary composition by Frenchman Pascal Dusapin serves as the fundament. The nucleus of Sasha Waltz’s choreography is the solo singers Barbara Hannigan and Georg Nigl, complemented figuratively by a small group of dancers.
Pascal Dusapin’s »Passion« is a musical engagement with the Orpheus myth. Claudio Monteverdi’s operatic setting is for Dusapin at centre. For the most part he relates the myth through Eurydice’s eyes.
Dramaturgically the myth describes the treatment. The staging and lighting indicate the boundaries between worlds. In course of the performance the players on stage, pass through various membranes separating the world of the living »Reality« from the hidden world, the »Underworld«.
The title role is sung by the magnificent Barbara Hannigan, her partner being her peer Georg Nigl. The Vocalconsort Berlin constitutes the chorus, while Ensemble Modern under direction of Franck Ollu with whom Compagnie Sasha Waltz & Guests realised Wolfgang Rihm’s »Jagden und Formen« provides the music. The libretto is in Italian.
The composition was commissioned by the Festival d´Aix-en-Provence 2008. Sasha Waltz’s choreographic opera will première in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Wednesday October 6, 2010.
Lei: Barbara Hannigan
Lui: Georg Nigl
Orchestra: La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra
Production: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
Choreography: Sasha Waltz
Composition: Pascal Dusapin
Cast: Edivaldo Ernesto, Virgis Puodziunas, Zaratiana Randrianantenaina, Yael Schnell, Shi Xuan, Niannian Zhou
Original Title: Passion
Original Language: Italian
Subtitles: No subtitles
Film Production Country: Belgium