At the Waters of Lethe...

It was one of the most nervous days in my whole life. A premiere of a piece of music is a thing that every emerging or even an established composer waits for with huge excitement. Big artwork like an opera is an event that gives goosebumps to every participant of the project. That thing happened exactly on 28 June 2016 in Ostrava during NODO Festival (New Opera Days Ostrava) in Czech Republic, one of the most exciting festivals dedicated to contemporary opera performance in Europe. In a small scene placed in Cooltour artistic space, which looked more like a leisure bar than an artistic event space, we have prepared a musical feast for the audience, called At the waters of Lethe...

NODO Caged!

During rehearsals for At the Waters of Lethe.

Composer Idin Samimi Mofakham with NODO-poster background

Me and my "partner in crime" Idin Samimi Mofakham were invited to write an hour-long composition, which could stand on the border of an opera and musical theater. Idin had this vision, for a longer time, to turn to the mythological subject but place it in not concrete contemporaneity. He was vividly interested into the works of Greek goddess Lethe and her ability to send forgetfulness over the souls longing to get away from their past. That was the first thing that inspired us to create main characters that face Lethe in the Underworld - composers Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, Robert Schumann, Alfred Schnittke and fictitious character Edward Mordake. 

Rehearsals on! Stage directing: Marta Grądzka and Ewelina Grzechnik at work.

Rehearsals on! Stage directing continues...

 

Overview at the stage. Still at work.

Charismatic conductor Rolf Gupta at work.

Division was simple - Idin writes the whole music for his idea and I make libetto to bring life to his visions. Libretto work is not an easy thing to create (as well as music by the way!). You need to imagine the flow of action during the performance, tempos of dialogues, even, if the composer puts them later the other way you have planned - anyway, "the general tempos" of the text always stay similar to the final realization of work on stage. 

Corrections on acting and stage movement. Marta Grądzka and Ewelina Grzechnik at work.

Rehearsals on. With our conductor Rolf Gupta.

At the waters of Lethe. Rehearsals on.

Text that I have written is both my own or created based on other different sources to match the characters of the opera and make them as true as they can be. So referring to that, Schnittke speaks the words of real Schnittke (Memoirs), parts of Gesualdo and Schumann are prepared based on their tempestuous biographies. Speaking of Mordake, the character was created based on the mentions from late XIX century encyclopedia Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by George M. Gould and Dr. Walter L. Pyle.   

Rolf Gupta rehearsing.

Advanced level of staging. Rehearsals with orchestra...

...and a moment of relax...

After the dress rehearsal. Whole At the waters of Lethe crew. From top left: Martyna Kosecka - libretto/electronics, Rolf Gupta - conductor, Alma Samimi - Lethe, Abdolreza Rostamian - Robert Schumann, Ewelina Grzechnik - stage design/direction. From bottom left: Marta Grądzka - director, Arash Roozbehi - Alfred Schnittke, Idin Samimi Mofakham - composer, Karol Bartosiński - Edward Mordake, Adrian Rosas - Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa.

But coming back to this particular night... We all were nervous. The truth is that preparing a new opera staging is not a task for one week, which unfortunately we had to our disposal. It is at least 2-week work only with soloists to learn their parts at heart and create a true and convincing acting on stage. It also requires a time to connect the singers with orchestra itself - understand and take the music inside of each performer, so the encounter of one to the music and text is full and real. Because lets all face and remember it - it is the music that is a main and final transmitter of all the meanings hidden in text!

At the waters of Lethe. Rehearsal with orchestra.

My little electronic workstation during rehearsals.

Before the premiere. Composer waiting for the show, full of stress...

...and the last corrections and advice from Rolf Gupta, just before the audience enters.

Anyway all the cast made a great job on stage and in the orchestra. With limited time we have managed to create an interesting, consistent and convincing opera-theater play, which I hope, will stay remembered and come to life in next performances. My intention is not to praise on our own work. I am aware of the mistakes existing in the performance same well as the audience and our crew-mates are. But I am also aware of how to make all of those disappear and reach to better and more thrilling result in next staging. 

Ostravska Banda in good moods, just before the show.

Tuning time! Just before the show.

Performance! At the waters of Lethe.

Our wonderful crew of soloists from left to right: Abdolreza Rostamian, Arash Roozbehi, Alma Samimi, Karol Bartosiński, Adrian Rosas.

So, to sum up, I would say that it was a very...wise evening for me and all the artists. We learned how it is to be responsible for a big production and try to carry the burden of all duties that come along with it. The lesson we got in At the waters of Lethe puts a stress on how each detail in the opera production is important - from the atmosphere during rehearsals and during the show through the correct amplification of artists for the audience and conductor's monitor, finally reaching to the right translation and accurate show of subtitles for non-English listeners... 

The day of stress, excitement and thrill... 

The day of facing the seriousness of our actions in life... 

The day of At the waters of Lethe making a statement out loud...  

Picture after the show!

All information about the opera cast can be found in here: http://www.newmusicostrava.cz/en/nodo/program/70-idin-samimi-mofakham-at-the-waters-of-lethe.html

All pictures taken by me or friends that had my phone in hand :)