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GENERALI
Prize for Opera 2017
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Seven Stones from the Tower of Babel
Seven Stones - Pebbles © Eric Oberdorff i
Presentation
Seven Stones is a story about a stone Collector whose passion, indeed addiction, so haunts and devours him that he loses all sense of reality. After seven years wandering in search of the first stone in the Gospel, the one from which the adulterous woman escaped, he returns home. By a twist of fate, on finding his wife in the embrace of a young man, his spontaneous reaction is to throw the first stone and cause her death. He discovers, too late, that the young man’s gesture is one of filial affection as he is none other than the Collector’s son.
To avoid facing his emotions, his feelings of guilt and responsibilities, the Collector takes refuge in the divide between reality and fiction, a place where, held in each stone, are the secret memories of men, places and stories. Revisiting each stage in his life, (childhood, adulthood and old-age), the Collector in turn finds himself in a central European café, a tango bar in Buenos Aires, the old imperial city of Kyoto and in frozen northern countries. He makes astonishing encounters with a blind Jorge Luis Borges who entrusts his poem to a rock, and Marie Curie who inspires Edvard Munch to paint “Death in the Sickroom.”
Seven Stones is an opera for four soloists and a chorus of twelve who also perform as dancers and play musical instruments as well as objects. Albeit an a capella opera, this work produces a richly layered sound. Voice is explored in all its forms and a variety of instruments and surprising objects are played by both the singers and the members of the chorus.
The Festival d’Aix was obliged to postpone Seven Stones, initially planned for July 2016, for budgetary reasons. A season involves artistic and financial risks that must however be controlled. The Festival’s management opted for postponement to maintain balanced accounts, itself the only way of guaranteeing the long-term future of its proactive policy regarding creation and democratization.
Seven Stones © Vincent Pontet i
Artistic Team
Seven Stones is an opera by Ondřej Adámek on a libretto by Sjón. The main part of the artistic team is composed of: - Musical direction: Ondřej Adámek - Stage direction and choreographe :Eric Oberdorff - Set design and lights: Eric Soyer - Costumes: Clémence Pernoud 4 Soloists from the Académie of Festival d’Aix will have the main roles: - Landy Andriamboavonjy - Anne Emmanuelle Davy - Shigeko Hata - Nicolas Simeha Finally, there will be a choir: - Choir (12 singers): accentus / axe 21 - Choirmaster: Léo Warynski
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