ARMEL OPERA FESTIVAL 2019

A production of the the Icelandic Opera
Based on Brothers, a movie by Susanne Bier

Cast:
Michael: Oddur Arnþór Jónsson
Sarah: Marie Arnet
Nadia: Selma Buch Ørum Villumsen
Jamie, Michael’s older brother: Joel Annmo
Peter: James Laing
Anna, Peter’s wife: Þóra Einarsdóttir
The Father: Jakob Zethner
The Mother: Hanna Dóra Sturludóttir
The Colonel: Ólafur Kjartan Sigurðarson

Script: Kerstin Perski
Musical Director: Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason
Stage Designer: Steffen Aarfing
Assistant Director: Amy Lane
With:

Director: Kasper Holten

ABOUT THE OPERA

The internationally acclaimed opera director, Kasper Holten is the father of the so-called “Northern-style” opera. This performance is a must for any opera enthusiast who is longing for something special.

Michael and Peter are going to fight in a war. Their helicopter is shot down and they are believed to be dead. When Michael finally returns home, he finds that nothing is the same any more. Terrible secrets are revealed, causing serious tension. However, the real drama lies in Michael’s confession. He finds himself in a deep moral conundrum related to the limits of self-preservation. Is it a sin to kill out of self-defense?

A production by Muziktheater Transparant (Belgium)

Cast:
Mezzo Soprano: Marie Hamard
Tenor: Andrew Dickinson
Actor: Wim van der Grijn

Piano: Jonathan Ware

Production Design: Jan Versweyveld
Costume: An D’Huys
Dramaturgist: Krystian Lada
Subtitles: Pieter-Jan Buelens
Stage Manager: Anne van Es
Props: Ray Vaessen
Lights: Luc Schaltin
Production Manager: Eglantine Möller

Assistant Director: Romain Gilbert

Director: Ivo van Hove

ABOUT THE OPERA

Belgian director Ivo van Hove is the founder of Tonnelgroep Amsterdam, the creator of several international opera and theatre performances and the winner of several theatrical awards. Currently, he is one of the leading experimental directors in Europe. 

Written by Leoš Janáček (1854–1928), this is a twenty-two-part song cycle about a a village boy who falls in love. This fascinating story inspired the highly talented writer, Annelies Van Parys to create additional works and extend the original piece with her own compositions. The miniature deals with topics such as passion, exclusion and identity, in an intimate atmopshere.

A co-production of the National Theatre of Győr and Co-Opera, Hungary

Comic opera in 4 acts, performed 2 parts, in Italian with German subtitles

Cast:

Count: Lajos Kendi
Countess: Beatrix Fodor
Suzanna: Bori Keszei
Figaro: Bence Pataki
Cherubino: Viktória Mester
Bartolo: Tamás Busa
Macellina: Mária Farkasréti
Basilio: Gergely Biri
Don Curzio: Zoltán Takács
Barbarina: Johanna Németh-Nagy
Antonio: Béla Laborfalvi Soós

With: Orchestra and Chorus of the National Theatre of Győr
Director of Chorus: Eszter Balogh
Coach: Szabolcs Medveczky
Conductor: Ádám Medveczky

Stage Designer: Csörsz Khell
Costumes: Mari Benedek
Assistant Director: Erika Tóth and György Magyar
Prompter: Rita Vlasics
Stage manager: Angéla Karácsony

Assistant Director: Zoltán Takács
Director: Máté Szabó

Producer: Dr Dániel Vadász

ABOUT THE OPERA

This is a 232-year-old masterpiece inspired by a highly influential and controversial play by Beaumarchais, which premiered five years before the French Revolution. In response to the strict censorship of the era, Mozart and Da Ponte tried to dampen the harsh social criticism of the French writer in their opera (even though it is still pretty obvious that the deleted content is still expressed through the score). Mozart intended to address much more than the issues of a particular era, his main interest lying in man itself, together with all its vices and aspirations. This explains why it is almost irrelevant where and when Figaro is rendered. Even after 232 years, every single sound and word is still valid. It is us, humans, who have stayed the same.

“Komische oper“, proclaims the musical score. Mozart’s genius lies in the fact that he skillfully combines the elements of opera buffa and opera seria. He is always ready to use comical gags with irresistible humour, while also readily conveying the tragedy of situations. This duality is expressed best in the figure of the Countess, whose character is almost entirely dramatic. Mozart expresses life itself in his music and his plays; the inescapable duality of tragedy and comedy. This production proposes to show nothing less.   /Máté Szabó/

A co-production by Forte Company – Trafó House Of Contemporary Arts, Hungary – Armel Opera Festival, Hungary

Cast:
The actors of the Forte Company
Guest Artists:
Barnabás Horkay
Kristóf Widder
Emőke Zsigmond

With: Metrum Ensemble
Musical Director: Lajos Rozmán

Stage Designer: Csaba Antal
Costume: Mari Benedek
Dramaturgist: Attila Rácz
Lights: Ferenc Payer
Production Manager: Anna Kudron

Director: Csaba Horváth

THE OPERA

The piece is based on Claudio Monteverdi’s 1638 scena when the Crusader knight Tancred fights Clorinda, the pagan girl to a tragic ending. The theatre play uses the instruments of physical theatre and music to futher explore the timeless morale of the story and the dramatic situation. Equal emphasis is laid on the classical sound articulation of opera singers, the more simple and natural singing of actors and the static and dynamic possibilities of stage situations arising from the interaction of prose manifestations and bodies. The mixture of Italian, Hungarian and English speech further increases the dramatic effect. Presented in the context of Armel Opera Festival’s competition programme, the performance is not an adaptation, transcription or a recasting, but an entirely new and independent stage piece.

A production by MusArtEH (Ecuador) and Armel Opera Festival

Don Giovanni: Alex Rodriguez
Donna Elvira: Vanesa Regalado
Donna Anna: Katharina Dain
Leporello: Ricardo Panela
Don Ottavio: Mark Van Arsdale
Masetto: Jorge Regalado
Zerlina: Vanessa Freire

With: Pannon Philharmonic

Stage and Costume Design: Ildi Tihanyi
Director: Róbert Alföldi

ABOUT THE PIECE

Directed by Róbert Alföldi, Mozart’s Don Giovanni is staged as a co-operation between the Ecuadorian-Hungarian Music Foundation (MusArtEH) and the Armel Opera Festival. The popular opera is one of the pet projects of the director. Known for his knack for reinterpreting the classics by shifting the emphasis as well as for his masterful skills in creating and resolving dramatic tension, the audience will surely be treated to an outstanding rendition of Mozart’s masterpiece.

A further interesting feature of the performance is that Róbert Alföldi will direct this opera in Ecuador, in the Teatro Casa de la Cultura. Renewed in 2008 the theatre has been hosting high-level national and international performances, among which the artists of both classical and pop music are represented.

The characters of Donna Anna, Leporello and Don Ottavio will be impersonated by the winners of the Armel Opera Competition.

Don Giovanni is one of the most well-known pieces of Mozart in the world. The first scene starts with a duel ending in a murder. However, the murderer, who is a handsome young knight, does not respect men or law, goes on living carelessly the life of heart-breakers. Nevertheless killing a man cannot remain unpunished. The audience can feel this restless atmosphere through the whole opera, with sometimes comic situations, until the appropriate punishment.