Accompanying topical images and sound material, Wouter Van Looy interweaves Monteverdi’s dramatic madrigal with Berio’s “Sequenza” composed over four centuries later. Heiner Goebbels’ staged concert “Songs of Wars I Have Seen” which provides the title for this event forms the second part of the evening. Goebbels composed the music and dramatised the work. In intriguingly light fashion, the work relates the experiences of war – with texts by Gertrude Stein from her novel “Wars I Have Seen”. The juxtaposition of ancient and modern musical instruments is a nod to the historical concept of “history repeating itself”. The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung commented: “Absurd, graphic and genuine theatre”.
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI: IL COMBATTIMENTO DI TANCREDI E CLORINDA (1624) / LUCIANO BERIO: SEQUENZA PER VOCE (1965) WITH Claron McFadden (soprano), Reinoud Van Mechelen (countertenor), Ensemble “B’Rock“ PRODUCTION/VIDEO Wouter Van Looy LIGHTING/VIDEO TECHNOLOGY Peter Quasters VIDEO MONTAGE Youssef Chellak VIDEO MATERIAL Daniel Demoustier DRAMATURGY Jef Lambrecht MUSICAL DIRECTION Wim Maeseele
HEINER GOEBBELS: SONGS OF WARS I HAVE SEEN (2002/2007)
WITH Claron McFadden (Sopran), Kevin Skelton (Countertenor), Tobias Berndt (Bariton), Ensemble „B’Rock“
MUSIC, DIRECTION, LIGHT DESIGN Heiner Goebbels
LIGHTING Peter Quasters
SOUND Pieter Nys
COSTUMES Johanna Trudzinski
MUSICAL DIRECTION Marit Strindlund
LANGUAGES Italian (Monteverdi, Berio) and English (Goebbels) with German surtitles
DURATION ca. 125 minutes / incl. interval
DISCUSSION WITH THE ARTISTS following the performance
A production by Muziektheater Transparant in co-production with KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, B’Rock, I Solisti del Vento, Nieuwe Luxor Theater, Operadagen Rotterdam and Muziekcentrum De Bijloke