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FEDORA
GENERALI
Prize for Opera 2017
Shortlist
Demon (c)A. Bofill 3 © i
Presentation
The same “Demon” by Lermontov, “he wandered, now long since outcast” finds another refuge, a much desired love and worship. This piece is about our world, a Demon who became nicer than others, needn’t to do anything in particular as humans are even capable of demonic actions. The Demon is monochrome, and only the intense blue of the proscenium reminds of the spherical beauty of the universe and cosmos - like in a spiritual canon. His image is neither that of a forever-young handsome-seducer, nor the Mephisto-type with a frantic gaze, but slightly aged, handsome, fatal lover with strands of grey hair and a cold and laid-back glare. He embodies knowledge: everything in the past, the whole world is a read book. He knows that it is futile to waste his energy - even for the sake of evil: it occurs anyhow. The Angel is his exact opposite. That is how it sounds, majestical imperative, his inside-out. Angel resembles the demon - by the looks, between them the battle for Tamara begins, for love, for the world, the planet. Young beauty Tamara, despairing and tragic. Each of her scenes is on the verge - as if a “string rips”, the terrifying force of the fate is inevitably approaching, fatality felt with each cell of the soul. Soundlessly she echoes his mantra “And you shall be the Empress of the World”, trembles, freezes, covers herself with a moon-globe. Tamara’s nanny is no cancelation to her but a cold granddame with the intonation of the Countess from Pique Dame - evil person. The lyrical personage is Sinodal - the finance in love with Tamara. Without a sincere love-duet, he tries to solve the common problem by marrying Tamara. In the Finale, the outcome of the struggle is determined. However, the Angel in this piece does not win. He receives her body, lifelessly hanging in his arms. The Demon received Tamara’s love - even if only for an instance. The stage embodies the universe, devoid of life, all actions happen within a cosmic world. By D.Bertman.
Artistic Team
Stage Director: Dmitry Bertman Choreographer: Edwald Smirnov Set & Costumes Designer: Hartmut Schörghofer Lighting Designer: Thomas C. Hase Videodesign: Fettfilm This new coproduction of The Demon is the culmination of a previous semi staged version driven by the same artistic team and soloists under the baton of talented Mikhail Tatarnikov at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow on January 30th 2015. The collaboration of the three opera houses Gran Teatre del Liceu, Helikon Opera and Opéra National de Bordeaux has made this project possible, promoted by the enfant terrible of opera Dmitry Bertman, an iconoclastic artist who has delighted and outraged spectators and critics all over the years and who continues to be as innovative and transgressor as in his early career. The artistic team has been collaborating together for many years on original stagings outside the conventional scene.
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