A portrait of melancholiac pur sang Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline, rendered by both a soprano and a female dancer. Opera Melancholica shows all corners of the human mind.
OPERA2DAY and the New European Ensemble welcome you at the anatomical theatre of the human mind. We will be trepanning skulls. Through cinematic minimal music by composer Philip Glass and a story by the 'Master of the Macabre' Edgar Allan Poe you will be presented with fantastic visions and horrifying delusions live at the theatre. They will be boosted by a choreography by Scapino Ballet Rotterdam.
The production focuses on the Dutch première of Glass's compelling opera in two acts 'The Fall of the House of Usher', with a libretto by Arthur Yorinks based on Poe's story. The piece portrays the melancholiac pur sang Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline, who in this production is rendered by both a soprano and a female dancer. We will immerse you in Usher's melancholia and show you all corners of the human mind: Opera Melancholica.
Melancholia is a human trait. We are able to look at our life and to realise that we are mortal. We harbour lucid dreams of a better world and life after death. Overwhelming views, but we pay a price for those ideals: the fear and wistfulness when we have returned to harsh reality. That is, if we can find our way back....