[theoretical performance][archive]DreamOpera / Piran-Belgrade / 2001

DreamOpera
Premiere: Teatro Tartini, Piran | August 25, 2001
Commissioned by: New Moment Ideas Campus, Piran, 2001.
Length: Act I 12 minutes, Act II 12 minutes, Act III 12 minutes

Libretto: Random standard art statements, advertising messages, theoretical definitions and quotations repertoire in Act I and Act III; Dialogue between Orpheus and Figaro outside Opera House in Act II as recitative; all texts are spoken in phone automate manner (except the recitative) in English or other big languages

Musical Forces: Electronic music composed of sampled and processed fragments from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Debussy’s Pélleas et Mélisande, Berg’s Wozzek, Glass’ Einstein on the Beach and Cage’s Europera 4, live amplified piano, no conductor; 3 musicologists, 1 composer 1 theatrologist, 1 professor of aesthetics, 1 painter, 1 theatre director

Musical Style: “Arias” from classic European repertoire of statements, quotations definitions and advertising messages chosen by the performers; instrumental parts are a collage of fragments from 6 paradigmatic Euro-American operas chosen by the performers and processed and re-contextualised by the composer

Synopsis: The action and arias are selected randomly. Throughout the entire piece there is a projection of a DreamOpera video made of 1741 still pictures and a little less moving pictures (dynamic history of euroamerican visual and performing arts from the mediaeval times up till now). At the same time on the canvas the same size as the projection screen a painter does live painting, also throughout the entire performance. In Act II there is a dialogue between two musicologists with opposing views on art and art of opera. During this recitative section there is no music. Act III is similar to Act I, except for the last chorus number where all the performers perform arias simultaneously. The composer announces each act and also plays amplified piano simultaneously with prerecorded music at the end of Act I and Act III

Original cast (in alphabetical order): Bojana Cvejic (musicologist), Bojan Djodjev (theatre director), Sinisa Ilic (painter), Jelena Novak (musicologist), Ksenija Stevanovic (musicologist), Misko Suvakovic (professor of aesthetics), Jasna Velickovic (composer), Ana Vujanovic (theatrologist)