Einstein on the Beach
[Musicians at Work]
The legendary opera Einstein on the Beach by Phillip Glass, Robert Wilson and Lucinda Childs premièred at the Festival of Avignon in 1976. It was certainly not a conventional opera. It lasted for more than five hours and the audience could freely come in and out. It wasn’t about telling a continuous story but about experiencing time itself. For this new concertante version, the Ictus ensemble is joining forces with the Collegium Vocale Ghent and with neo-folk legend Suzanne Vega. There is no spectacular staging in the style of Robert Wilson this time; the musical composition and the musicality of the libretto are the central focus in a minimalist and hypnotizing soundscape that lasts 200 minutes. The visual and spatial interventions by Dutch visual artist Germaine Kruip will ensure a continuum between the stage and the audience.
• Collegium Vocale Gent is an ensemble led by conductor Phillippe Herreweghe that has been taking the world by storm since the 1970s. Germaine Kruip is a scenographer and visual artist, and has been featured at Kaaitheater twice before: during Performatik15 and during the Kunstenfestivaldesarts 2016. The Brussels music ensemble Ictus is a fixture of the Kaaitheater programme. This season, they are also presenting creations with Mette Edvardsen and Matteo Fargion, Eleanor Bauer, and Noé Soulier.
music Philip Glass | texts Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson, Lucinda Childs | narrator Suzanne Vega | musical director Georges-Elie Octors & Tom De Cock | choir master Maria van Nieukerken | scenography Germaine Kruip | technical coordination Wilfried Van Dyck | light designer Chris Vanneste | light designer assistant Wannes De Rydt | sound engineer Alexandre Fostier | assistant sound engineer Suse Ribeiro | costume Anne-Catherine Kunz | dramaturgy Maarten Beirens | scenography assistant Maxime Fauconnier | COLLEGIUM VOCALE GENT: choir solo parts sopranos Joowon Chung, Magdalena Podkościelna, Elisabeth Rapp, Charlotte Schoeters | altos Ursula Ebner, Karolina Hartman, Gudrun Köllner, Cécile Pilorger | tenors Malcolm Bennett, Peter di Toro, Hitoshi Tamada, Basses Charles Dekeyser, Philipp Kaven, Bart Vandewege | ICTUS: violin Igor Semenoff | flutes Michael Schmid, Chryssi Dimitriou | keyboards Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Jean-Luc Plouvier | bass clarinet, soprano sax Dirk Descheemaeker | alto and soprano saxophones Asagi Ito
