A co-production of Oblivia and Theater Bremen & Oper Wuppertal as part of NOperas!, the funding initiative of the Fonds Experimentelles Musiktheater of NRW KULTURsekretariat and Kunststiftung NRW, 2022-2023
CREDITS
Oblivia team
Concept & devising: Oblivia working group
Composer, electronic live music : Yiran Zhao
Dramaturgy: Anna-Maija Terävä
Light design, projections: Meri Ekola
Costume design: Tua Helve
Communications: Nassrah-Alexia Denif, Lisa Carolin Schubert
Production manager: Jenny Nordlund
Photos from Opera Wuppertal by Björn Hickman.
In our the creation “Obsessions”, 2022-2023, the second Oblivia production to take on experimental music theatre following Verdrängen Verdrängen Verdrängen, we investigate the highlights of our obsession, of our febrile cravings – in private as well as in the political sphere, crying as well as whispering, during yesterday as well as today – through motion and gesture, singing and text fragments. With ›Obsessions‹, devised as a conceptual opera piece, Oblivia dives into the personal as well as political obsessions that drive us.
In movement, gestures and text fragments and to the acoustic and electronic soundscape of the original score by composer Yiran Zhao, the performers shift between ages and places. They pursue recurring patterns of those obsessed with power and those hungry for freedom, all the while revolving around mankind’s never-ending obsession with itself. Within the production’s structure, Obsessions is newly created at every place as local co-production partners as well as local singers and musicians join the team.
Yiran Zhao, the young, multiple award-winning composer who has been a collaborating partner of Oblivia since 2019, provides the eclectic composition, while the combination with Oblivia’s own handling of song and voice brings about an exceptional and catchy soundscape that goes beyond even our merging of a cappella songs and classical melody structure with atonal elements. In the process, we repeatedly examine words or sentences for their musical qualities when they are sung in expansion, or spoken rhythmically. Between analogies with Monty Python sounds and operatic brilliance, between white noise and distorted and broken tones, the sound of “Obsession” meanders while remaining intricately intertwined with movements on stage.
Photos from Theater Bremen by Jörgen Landesberg:
Team at Oper Wuppertal 2023
Performers
Alice Ferl, Timo Fredriksson and Annika Tudeer (Oblivia)
Matthieu Svetchine (Theater Bremen)
Singers (Oper Wuppertal)
Rebecca Murphy – soprano
Julia Reznik – mezzo soprano
Yisae Choi – bassbariton
Musicians (Symphonic Orchestra Wuppertal)
Michael Gehlmann – viola
Hyeonwoo Park – violoncello
Yulia Mun / Udo Mertens – flute
Susanne von Foerster – oboe
Melanie Werner – clarinet (guest)
Oliver Nicolai – horn
Roberto de la Guía Martínez/Csaba Rabi – trombone
Benedikt Clemens – percussion
N.N. – violin
Conductor (Symphonic Orchestra Wuppertal)
Tobias Deutschmann
Company manager: Dorothée Schulte
Dramaturg: Marie-Philine Pippert
Music rehearsals: Immanuel Karle
Supervisor: Michael Cook
Surtitles: Hyunju Rue
Surtitles: Irina Haury
Stage manager, assistant: Lauren Schubbe
Assistant director: Lisenka Milène Kirkcaldy
Production assistant: Josef Zschornack (Theater Bremen)
Team at Theater Bremen 2022
Performers
Karin Entleer and Matthieu (Theater Bremen)
Timo Fredriksson and Annika Tudeer (Oblivia)
Singers (Theater Bremen)
Nerita Pokvytyte – soprano
Maríam Murgulía – mezzo soprano
Timotheus Maas – bassbariton
Musicians (Bremer Philharmoniker)
Hélène Freyburger – flute
Gregor Daul – oboe
Anatoli Jagodin – trombone
Rose Eickelberg – percussion
Reinhold Heise – violin
Marie Daniels – viola
Conductor (Theater Bremen)
Yu Sugimoto
Production: Josef Zschornack
Studio director: Rolando Garza Rodríguez
Head of Dramaturgy Musiktheater: Brigitte Heusinger
Co-producers
A co-production of Theater Bremen and Oper Wuppertal with Oblivia as part of NOperas!, the funding initiative of the Fonds Experimentelles Musiktheater of NRW KULTURsekretariat and Kunststiftung NRW.
Supporters
Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Helsinki City, Svenska kulturfonden, TINFO – Theatre Info Finland/ MOTI funded by The Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Premiere | February 2022, Theater Bremen
Anna-Maija Terävä | Dancer 