After a traditionally set dinner-scene, we follow Don Giovanni to hell.
Part opera fiction, following Mozart's character as he dives into what turns out to be the underworld of opera, part coma dream, taking place inside the mind of the opera singer after he hit his head against the trap door.
In opera-hell the damned and evil characters are exposed to contrapasso a.k.a. poetic justice (with greetings to Dante), i.e. punishments based on the crimes they committed in their operas. These punishments are always musical in nature and form both entertainment for the natives as well as auditions and rehearsals for a grand show that the opera-devil is working to set up as he also takes the roles of dictatorial conductor and stage director.
All music and text is "sampled" from 30+ historic operas dating from 1600 to 1927. The original music is (mostly) recognisable, but twisted and given new meaning through changes in register, style, context and function.
An evening of twisted classics, operatic meta, broken clichés, cinematic post-apocalypse, infernal misfits, up-side-down arias, gender-bending, waterboarding, musical punishment, hampered singing, mechanical contraptions, grinding stage-mechanics, light and smoke. In other words a comedy!
Simon Steen-Andersen is one of the pioneers in a generation of composers that since the turn of the millennium have incorporated the world around them into their music and given it a more extroverted and contemporary form of expression. In his music the idea is always clear and directly present as something we can experience without preconditions. At the same time the thorough and imaginative exploration of his ideas lends the works a depth and complexity that keeps the audience captivated throughout the experience. Simon Steen-Andersen’s works live in the passages between the simple and the complex – in a cross-aesthetical field where orchestral music, video art, choreography, performance, music theatre, and installation are mixed with pop-cultural elements and game-aesthetics in surprising and thought-provoking ways. His works therefore present a pronounced expansion of music, where no material is too fine or too simple to be given careful attention, taken apart, and assembled anew.
ICTUS
Gerrit Nulens (Percussion), Tom Pauwels (E-Guitar), Eva Reiter (Viola da gamba), Susana Santos Silva (Trumpet), Michael Schmid (Flute)
Ictus is a contemporary music ensemble based in Brussels, born in 1994 as the live band for Rosas dance company. Founded at a time when ensembles were considered mini-orchestras made up of virtuoso soloists, Ictus emerges today as a collective of creative musicians dedicated to experimental music in its broadest sense: written music, sound art, improvisation and electronics. Ictus is an artist-driven structure consisting of some 30 people spread over three generations. It has become a regular partner of numerous curators, choreographers and large-scale groups, such as Brussels Philharmonic and Collegium Vocale Gent, while developing its own projects in a variety of formats. Its work is available on a Youtube channel as well as a rich web archive, ictus.be, with almost 300 documented projects. Ictus is conducting an advanced Master’s programme for young musicians with the School of Arts Gent.
The Royal Danish Theatre
Premiere the 20th April 2024
Bassem Samir Akiki (conductor)
Fanny Soyer (Soprano), Siphokazi Molteno (Mezzo-Soprano), Cody Quattlebaum (Bariton), Damien Pass (Bassbariton), Fredrik Bjellsäter (Tenor), Geoffroy Buffière (Bass)
Thibaut Welchlin (costumes), Johanne Holten (Assistant director), Hannah Deutschle (Assistant stage design), Romain Muller (Sound engineering assistant)
Choir and Orchestra of the Royal Danish Theater
Opéra national du Rhin
Premiere the 16th September 2023
Bassem Samir Akiki (Conductor) , Hendrik Haas (Choirmaster of the choir of the Opera national du Rhin)
Christophe Gay (Bariton), Senta Sandrine (Soprano), Julia Deit-Ferrand (Mezzo-Soprano), François Rougier (Tenor), Damien Pass (Bassbariton), Geoffroy Buffière (Bass)
Thibaut Welchlin (costumes), Johanne Holten (Assistant director), Hannah Deutschle (Assistant stage design), Romain Muller (Sound engineering), Franck Brigel (Light assistance), Peter Tinning (Video assistance), Kim Ranfelt (Assistance sound and video)
Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin
"A remix of opera history was transformed into a hellish journey and at the same time into a vision of the opera of the future. Genre boundaries were dissolved, while great emotions, existential reflections and doubts were preserved. Is a devil actually good because he punishes evil?"
Reumert-Preis for the Opera of the year 2024
"Simon Steen-Andersen has not limited himself. In Don Juan's Inferno, the opera genre is ripped apart from within the heavy and opulent walls of the National Theatre. Hierarchical power structures are challenged, unspoken narratives are made conscious and turned inside out. The fullness of the work almost makes you dizzy. It is complex and chaotic, yet strangely precise. The concept, re-composition and staging are all created by an artist who demonstrates how interdisciplinary and multimedia opera can be done in the 21st century. It is a bold performance of excessive inventiveness. A grotesque and deeply entertaining opera on speed. Get on the road!"
Seismograf, Marie-Louise Zervides, 26/4/2024 - about Don Giovanni’s Inferno
"It's a hell of a good time that no opera lover needs to fear. As it was co-produced with Copenhagen, a repeat performance of this operatic delight is already assured. It would have to be the devil's own work if it were to stay that way“
Joachim Lange, Neue Musik Zeitung, 21/9/2023 - about Don Giovanni’s Inferno
"We shudder to think that all this could have been put together by an artificial intelligence, but the result - human, even too human - is fascinating, astonishing and bloody erudite. Utterly diabolical, because infinitely clever...“
Forum Opera, 18/9/2023- about Don Giovanni’s Inferno
"Whether you're a fan of hybrid and experimental works, or a fan of rediscovering forgotten arias, there seems to be something for everyone in this evening."
Olyrix, 16/09/23 - about Don Giovanni’s Inferno
"All of this could descend into farce, but it doesn't. Instead, it is a serious declaration of love to a genre that is so often pronounced dead."
Dagmar Gilcher, Rheinpfalz - about Don Giovanni’s Inferno
