Page 172 - 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. 172
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
of the role of the performer, as in musical theatre, but at the same time a
search for homogeneity between different constituent parts: music, singing,
dance, new technologies. The composer can be at the same time the inter-
preter, the director, the scenographer and/or the choreographer. Such con-
ditions, which facilitate the mastery of the different disciplines, allow the
creator to express more freely and authentically his artistic temperament
and his stylistic personality. The architectural space appears as an active,
organic element, as an extension of the general idea of t he work, sometimes
as its unique ‘envelope’, not adaptable to other creations.
For example, Jonas Sakalauskas’s monodrama-opera Izadora (2009),
which recounts the psychiatric case of a woman who identifies with the
dancer Isadora Duncan, moves in a small and enclosed space: all the op-
era is played in one corner. It could therefore even be performed in a recess
of the Paris metro, for example. This opera develops from the idea of o ne
emotion, of the confinement in an unreal and painful world of the unique
character (mezzosoprano) of this piece. The opera echoes the real Isadora
Duncan, her conception of dance, in which the most important thing was
to find the innate rhythm of her body.
Another example, Lina Lapelyte’s opera Have a good day (2011), which
is about the daily life of cashiers in supermarkets, does not need the depth
of a stage, and can even be played in front of the closed curtain, since the
main characters are supermarket cashiers, sitting on their chairs, aligned
and static. The space occupied by the cashier-singers in itself sums up the
sociological view of certain aspects of human conditions in our society.
Opera as a start-up
By transgressing the boundaries of the genre, NOA has upset the codes
of Lithuanian opera. Without seeking any institutional support, it has in-
vented new perspectives. In fact, the founder of this movement, Jonas Saka-
lauskas, himself an opera singer and composer, makes opera work like a
start-up. Theatre for him is a cultural platform that reacts actively to his en-
vironment: it has taken a cultural and social form.
– In 1999 he created NOA and the production house Operomanija
(“The Mania of the Opera”),
– In 2012 he founded the The Baltic chamber opera festival (Balti-
jos kamerinis operos teatras) and added an internship structure
170
of the role of the performer, as in musical theatre, but at the same time a
search for homogeneity between different constituent parts: music, singing,
dance, new technologies. The composer can be at the same time the inter-
preter, the director, the scenographer and/or the choreographer. Such con-
ditions, which facilitate the mastery of the different disciplines, allow the
creator to express more freely and authentically his artistic temperament
and his stylistic personality. The architectural space appears as an active,
organic element, as an extension of the general idea of t he work, sometimes
as its unique ‘envelope’, not adaptable to other creations.
For example, Jonas Sakalauskas’s monodrama-opera Izadora (2009),
which recounts the psychiatric case of a woman who identifies with the
dancer Isadora Duncan, moves in a small and enclosed space: all the op-
era is played in one corner. It could therefore even be performed in a recess
of the Paris metro, for example. This opera develops from the idea of o ne
emotion, of the confinement in an unreal and painful world of the unique
character (mezzosoprano) of this piece. The opera echoes the real Isadora
Duncan, her conception of dance, in which the most important thing was
to find the innate rhythm of her body.
Another example, Lina Lapelyte’s opera Have a good day (2011), which
is about the daily life of cashiers in supermarkets, does not need the depth
of a stage, and can even be played in front of the closed curtain, since the
main characters are supermarket cashiers, sitting on their chairs, aligned
and static. The space occupied by the cashier-singers in itself sums up the
sociological view of certain aspects of human conditions in our society.
Opera as a start-up
By transgressing the boundaries of the genre, NOA has upset the codes
of Lithuanian opera. Without seeking any institutional support, it has in-
vented new perspectives. In fact, the founder of this movement, Jonas Saka-
lauskas, himself an opera singer and composer, makes opera work like a
start-up. Theatre for him is a cultural platform that reacts actively to his en-
vironment: it has taken a cultural and social form.
– In 1999 he created NOA and the production house Operomanija
(“The Mania of the Opera”),
– In 2012 he founded the The Baltic chamber opera festival (Balti-
jos kamerinis operos teatras) and added an internship structure
170
