Page 168 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
P. 168
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
there has been no desire to oppose a genre that has become too rig-
id, imposing and cumbersome to manage. This festival originates
rather from personal initiatives and the desire to freely experiment
the genre itself13.
The festival has no intention of settling for good at a definite place, not
to say that it categorically refuses to do it. Their goal is to preserve the free-
dom to move in different spaces, to adapt spaces to ideas, and not the re-
verse. The choice of the environment acquires exactly the same importance
as the choice of the libretto or the musical team.
Most of these young creators started their career subsequently to this
festival, and for most of them it was their first opera. After 10 years of exist-
ence, and 6 editions, NOA has already produced more than 30 operas, cre-
ated by about 15 composers14, about 30 librettists15, more than twenty stage
directors16, etc.
Yet the beginnings were very prosaic: the initiator of this movement,
a young opera singer and composer, Jonas Sakalauskas, hung an ad on the
wall at the Academy of Music and Theatre of Vilnius, inviting interested
people and volunteers to join him in the creation of an opera festival.
Manifesto for a new opera
For its 5th edition in 2012, the NOA festival published a manifesto. It helped,
in fact, better understanding of the concerns of the main actors of this
movement, as well as the purpose and directions of their artistic research:
13 Interview with Ana Ablamonova (June 2018).
14 Jonas Sakalauskas, Rita Mačiliūnaitė, Rūta Vitkauskaitė, Jens Hedman, Asa Nor-
dgren, Mykolas Natalevičius, Albertas Navickas, Margarita Chodūnaitė, Sigitas
Mickis, Charles Halka, Lina Lapelytė, Linas Paulauskis, Antanas Jasenka, Leonar-
das Pilkauskas, George Halloway, Artūras Bumšteinas, Tadas Dailyda etc.
15 Žilvinas Andriušis, Agnė Biliūnaitė, Julius Žėkas, Tomas Andriukonis, Dainius
Gintalas, Gabrielė Labanauskaitė, Olegas Kesminas, Margarita Chodūnaitė, Gytis
Norvilas, Antanas Šimkus, Marija Simona Šimulynaitė, Erika Vizbaraitė, Sonata
Visockaitė, Albertas Navickas, Andrius Kaniava, Vaidotas Žitkus, Jonas Sakalaus-
kas, Vaiva Grainytė, Giedrė Matiukaitė, Rūta Vitkauskaitė, Jens Hedman, Asa Nor-
dgren, Rita Mačiliūnaitė, Justas Tertelis, Claude Willan, George Halloway, Artūras
Bumšteinas, Mykolas Natalevičius etc.
16 Jonas Sakalauskas, Olga Generalova, Jekaterina Deneiko, Vilius Malinauskas, Al-
bertas Vidžiūnas, Marija Simona Šimulynaitė, Olegas Kesminas, Agnė Sunklodaitė,
Agnius Jankevičius, Sonata Visockaitė, Loreta Vaskova, Vaidotas Žitkus, Rūta But-
kus, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Yanna Ross, Ksenija Orlova, Saba Lagadze, Juozas Korei-
va, Antanas Jasenka, Giedrė Brazytė, Justas Tertelis, Vitalija Samuilova, Mikas Žu-
kauskas etc.
166
there has been no desire to oppose a genre that has become too rig-
id, imposing and cumbersome to manage. This festival originates
rather from personal initiatives and the desire to freely experiment
the genre itself13.
The festival has no intention of settling for good at a definite place, not
to say that it categorically refuses to do it. Their goal is to preserve the free-
dom to move in different spaces, to adapt spaces to ideas, and not the re-
verse. The choice of the environment acquires exactly the same importance
as the choice of the libretto or the musical team.
Most of these young creators started their career subsequently to this
festival, and for most of them it was their first opera. After 10 years of exist-
ence, and 6 editions, NOA has already produced more than 30 operas, cre-
ated by about 15 composers14, about 30 librettists15, more than twenty stage
directors16, etc.
Yet the beginnings were very prosaic: the initiator of this movement,
a young opera singer and composer, Jonas Sakalauskas, hung an ad on the
wall at the Academy of Music and Theatre of Vilnius, inviting interested
people and volunteers to join him in the creation of an opera festival.
Manifesto for a new opera
For its 5th edition in 2012, the NOA festival published a manifesto. It helped,
in fact, better understanding of the concerns of the main actors of this
movement, as well as the purpose and directions of their artistic research:
13 Interview with Ana Ablamonova (June 2018).
14 Jonas Sakalauskas, Rita Mačiliūnaitė, Rūta Vitkauskaitė, Jens Hedman, Asa Nor-
dgren, Mykolas Natalevičius, Albertas Navickas, Margarita Chodūnaitė, Sigitas
Mickis, Charles Halka, Lina Lapelytė, Linas Paulauskis, Antanas Jasenka, Leonar-
das Pilkauskas, George Halloway, Artūras Bumšteinas, Tadas Dailyda etc.
15 Žilvinas Andriušis, Agnė Biliūnaitė, Julius Žėkas, Tomas Andriukonis, Dainius
Gintalas, Gabrielė Labanauskaitė, Olegas Kesminas, Margarita Chodūnaitė, Gytis
Norvilas, Antanas Šimkus, Marija Simona Šimulynaitė, Erika Vizbaraitė, Sonata
Visockaitė, Albertas Navickas, Andrius Kaniava, Vaidotas Žitkus, Jonas Sakalaus-
kas, Vaiva Grainytė, Giedrė Matiukaitė, Rūta Vitkauskaitė, Jens Hedman, Asa Nor-
dgren, Rita Mačiliūnaitė, Justas Tertelis, Claude Willan, George Halloway, Artūras
Bumšteinas, Mykolas Natalevičius etc.
16 Jonas Sakalauskas, Olga Generalova, Jekaterina Deneiko, Vilius Malinauskas, Al-
bertas Vidžiūnas, Marija Simona Šimulynaitė, Olegas Kesminas, Agnė Sunklodaitė,
Agnius Jankevičius, Sonata Visockaitė, Loreta Vaskova, Vaidotas Žitkus, Rūta But-
kus, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Yanna Ross, Ksenija Orlova, Saba Lagadze, Juozas Korei-
va, Antanas Jasenka, Giedrė Brazytė, Justas Tertelis, Vitalija Samuilova, Mikas Žu-
kauskas etc.
166
