Program
Preface
It is often difficult to find the right words to interpret complex or emotionally charged themes. It is then that dance can express what we feel and think. By creating images and associations, dance can challenge us to look further and show us something we may not immediately understand but can intuitively recognize.
Dance relates well to words and music because it in combination evokes new thoughts and images that makes us look beyond the literal and therefore can show us other perspectives. In this performance, a multitude of disciplines work with eachother, out of necessity, to challenge you as an audience, inspire and amaze.
I am proud that the singer, musicians, dancers, extras, choreographers and director have collaborated in such a special and exciting way on this fantastic and daring project.
Ed Wubbe
Antidote
'Never again!', we say of the great wars of the twentieth century. But again and again we are assailed by images of trenches, ruins and streams of refugees. The development of tonight's show started in spring 2022, just after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And since then, major waves of violence have already broken out in several parts of the world. Around the premiere in the Middle East. To cope with the feelings of disbelief and sadness, and to find solace somewhere for all that suffering, we decided to make this performance: a timeless requiem about war.
Idle hope
We wanted to process our experiences, but we also looked for hope, above all for the war in Ukraine. Where is that hope to be found? Essentially especially if a different wind were to blow in Russia. That now seems a vain hope. And that is bitter, because 20 years ago I got to know a very different Russia. The contrast between my experiences then and today's aggressive war of aggression does not let me go. In 2001, I was responsible for the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival. A festival around the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, then chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.That year, the festival was dedicated to composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975), who, in times of war and Stalinist terror, managed to create a body of work that, despite a constant battle with Soviet censorship, offered a personal reflection on his times. On the occasion of the end of World War II, for instance, he wrote not a jubilant symphony, but a symphony in which the war haunts him like a nightmare haunting. Shostakovich captured his individual human experience in music. And because his work was so personal, it interpreted the experience of millions and brought comfort. It made it clear that behind the face of the regime, the suffering of people was hidden.
The Gergiev Festival started on September 13, two days after the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, an event that cast a veil over the entire Festival. Yet there was hope: there were sounds pacifist words from Gergiev and many, and there was a great brotherhood of Russian and Rotterdam musicians, also playing together on stage. Shostakovich's music sounded as if we were trying to process our dismay and grief.
Echo
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the brotherhood of 2001 has become divisive. We seem thrown back decades in time, with the Russian regime's renewed war rhetoric sounding like an echo from the time of Shostakovich. It made me feel that his music and story could also bring us something again. After all, in times of hardening, shouldn't we also remain open to other voices from Russia? Voices that preach a different message, that envisage a different future. Were they not there in all times in Russia? Are they there now?
Facing the monster
In my search for 'other voices' in Russian music history, I found no great tradition of denunciation or protest, but I did find in all times an almost humanistic reflection on the individual suffering created by wars and the great movements of history. Shostakovich is in that tradition. In all times, the monster of war was looked in the mouth. It applies to the songs of Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky
From our performance. You canimagine that afterlistening to those songs you can still see any heroism or resolution in the phenomenon of war. Also soundedthere was often a longing forbetter times, for peace and tranquillity.Even today, this longingstill resounds, for instance in the work of Sergei Akhunov. This composer was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, but he has long lived in St Petersburg, Russia, and emailed us that he wants to be called a Russian, because he wants to be the voice of another Russia. After the outbreak of war, he wrote his Adagio: Prayer for Peace. This 'prayer for peace' he sent around the world, hoping that many would want to perform it, which happened on several continents. We end our performance with it.
In the dark forest
Based on the collected works, our requiem was compiled/put together. We find ourselves in the metaphorica dark forest that is sung in Borodin's Song of the dark forest. A destructive 'will and power' are palpable there, which has often led to war. That forest may also be home to the poisonous Antyar tree that Pushkin describes in a song composed by Rimsky-Korsakov. A servant has to extract deadly poison from the tree for his lord, costing him his life. The ruler then deploys the poison against his neighbours.
We crawl into the mind of an 'unknown soldier', symbolising man during war. In all times, all countries. Our unknown soldier hovers between life and death and cannot find his eternal rest, his 'requiem aeternam'. He longs to return to his wife, child and family, but the life he left behind has been destroyed, existing only in his memories. He gets carried away by his longing, but is just as often overcome by terrifying memories of the battlefield and overwhelming nightmares. He sees again before him how death reigned on the battlefield, as shown by Mussorgsky in his The Field Marshal: this song is the 'dies irae' ('day of wrath') of our requiem. The soldier is ultimately left dying on the battlefield, Forgotten,
thus the title of another song by the same composer.
'In battle and struggle there are heroic deeds, but true heroism is found in patience, love and prayer' is how it sounds in Tchaikovsky's Heroic Act. It is our unknown soldier's inevitable conclusion about what he was experiencing.
Stretching against the cramps
Making this performance was a search for a glimmer of hope. And while you won't find direct protest in Russian art, so there is a great tradition of the human and empathetic gaze. The works of this show have emerged from that spirit. We hope that that gentle force will swell more into a factor of importance in reality as well. Also in all other conflicts in the world. There are not many signs of that, but let us keep hope. If only for ourselves. It is like stretching against the cramp: a counter- movement, an antidote brings to mind the Soviet dissidents who reportedly made the following toast at the end of their meetings: "Cheers to our hopeless mission!" So say
we now also say, "Cheers!"
Serge van Veggel
OPERA2DAY
OPERA2DAY creates opera performances, combining relevant stories, compelling music and powerful staging to give the audience a meaningful experience.
Artistic director and director Serge van Veggel is known for his conceptual approach, often fusing opera with other genres. The fusion of music, song and theatre can move, surprise, amuse and inspire - as well as deeply touch the soul and make emotional and social issues palpable. Thus, OPERA2DAY has developed into an innovative and high-profile company that manages to reinvent the genre of opera and individual opera titles for today's audiences.
Dancers of Scapino Ballet Rotterdam
Choreographers
-
Miller de Nobili
"In Song of the dark forest we we want to depict life in a rollercoaster of emotions. The story of the unique individuals emphasises the importance of family bonds and captures the serene but restless silence before a 'storm', as the characters search for love and connection in all its possible shades." -
YoY Performing Arts
"How do you embody the memories of someone who lived through a war? We drew inspiration from formations and hand signs associated with military codes around the world. We then deconstructed these codes from a contemporary dance perspective, making they became the alphabet, the language, expressing a separation of body and mind." -
Diego Sinniger de Salas
"Where do the memories we call good or bad memories come from? In my piece, I focus on the importance of appreciating thoughts in an intense and painful way. On blending different aspects of a trauma or a good memory associated with the misfortune of war. How can we heal from what happened to us?"
Music
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sergej Rachmaninov
Dmitri Shostakovich
Pjotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Dmitri Shostakovich
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Dmitri Shostakovich
Alexander Borodin
Béla Bartók
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Dmitri Shostakovich
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovski
Sergey Akhunov
Pianotrio nr. 2 – I. Andante */**/***
Fifteen Songs, op. 26 – nr. 3 We Shall Rest (Anton Chechov) */**/***/+
String Quartet nr. 15 – II. Serenade - Adagio */**/***
My Spirit, My Angel, My Love (Afanasi Fet) *
From: Songs and Dances of Death– nr. 4 The Field Marshal (Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov) **/+
String Quartet nr. 8 – II. Allegro molto, III. Allegretto, IV. Largo **
Forgotten */+
from: The Nursery – nr. 6 Ride on a Hobby Horse (Modest Mussorgsky) */+
From Jewish Folk Poetry – nr. 3 Lullaby, nr. 7 The Song of Misery * | Marjolein Spruit, violin & Matthijs van Wijhe, piano
Song of the dark forest (Alexander Borodin) *** / +
String Quartet nr. 4 – V. Allegro molto, IV. Allegretto pizzicato, V. Allegro molto ***
The Upas Tree (Alexander Pushkin) ***
Piano Quintet in G Minor – IV. Intermezzo *
from: Twelve songs, op. 60 – nr. 11 Heroism (Aleksej Chomyakov) */+
Adagio: Prayer for Peace
Choreography by:
* Miller de Nobili
** YoY Performing Arts
*** Diego Sinniger de Salas
Arrangements by:
+ Henk de Vlieger
Read the translations of the songs
DoelenEnsemble
The DoelenEnsemble has become a leading player in the field of contemporary classical music in Rotterdam and the Netherlands. Surprising, renewing and connecting are central to the DoelenEnsemble's mission.
The collaboration with parties in this production is unique. Artistic director and conductor Maarten van Veen says: "I hope that as a spectator you take home an experience you really never forget, there is still so much beauty to discover in the collaboration, where 1+1 really becomes 3."
The music in Song of the dark forest is about what war does to people. One aspect of that I want to point out: Everyone can imagine that war is something that comes from outside. You can't turn it on or off. All of a sudden it's there. It is a fate you cannot escape. That pressure is also palpable in the lyrics music of the songs in the performance.
To Serge's choice of music, I have added 'Adagio: Prayer for Peace'. The composer, Sergey Akhunov, was born inKyiv and now lives in Russia. He wrote 'Prayer for Peace' as a silent protest against war and asked me to play it. The piece shows the hushed suffering of man from within. We humans can only do one thing, and that is to hope, or if you want to pray, that society can live in freedom again, freed from the misery that is going on now.
Maarten van Veen
Andrii Ganchuk
As the costume rehearsal begins, Andrii Ganchuk stands alone in the middle of the large studio. From the side, a stream of extras arrive, dressed as refugees.
The affable bass-baritone performs eight songs in Song of the dark forest and enjoys the energy around him which, as he says, makes singing easier for him. Things get more serious when he talks about the performance and the war in his native Ukraine: "It's emotional for me. And also contradictory. I am from Ukraine and have family in Russia. That applies to a lot of people in Ukraine. It feels like two brothers are fighting with each other fighting. For us, it is it's a civil war. The has to stop."
Director Serge van Veggel has chosen to almost exclusively use Russian music. How does he handle that? "Russian music has a great tradition of war songs. Not songs that glorify war but express how bad war can be. No matter what language you speak, love, war and peace mean the same thing everywhere the same. In this performance Russian is an expression of feelings we all have."
"It relates to every war in the world"
After the outbreak of the war, there was much talk of cancelling Russian culture. Andrii disagrees: "If you cancel genius composers like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, you cancel you cancel a part of everyone's culture. They belong to our world and not just to Russia. "Of all the songs in the performance, the cynical message in Mussorgsky's The Field Marshal grips him the most: "This song is about Death who, seated on horseback, marches to the battlefield, and when everyone has died, says: 'in life you quarreled with each other and could not make peace. Lie there and be grateful that I have brought you peace brought you peace.' I get goosebumps from that. It beats every war in the world." After the rehearsal, Andrii stays in the studio for a while. His soldier costume is soaked with sweat. Slowly, he comes out of his role and another a smile on his face.
Credits
Artistic direction
Ed Wubbe
A performance by
Serge van Veggel (concept, compilation of music & direction)
Diego Sinniger de Salas (choreography)
Miller de Nobili (choreography)
YoY Performing Arts (choreography)
Musical direction
Maarten van Veen
Scenography
Herbert Janse
Light design
Jasper Nijholt
Costume design
Petra Finke
Assistent of the director
Femke Luyckx
Balletmasters
Débora Soto
Federica Dadamo
Bonnie Doets
Bass bariton
Andrii Ganchuk
Wiebe Pier Cnossen
Tiemo Wang (vocal understudy)
DoelenEnsemble
Maarten van Veen (conductor)
Arie van Beek (conductor)
Natálie Kulina (concertmaster, violin)
Marjolein Spruit (violin)
Jieun Kim (viola)
Viola Innocenti (viola)
Ana Fernandes Mikus (cello)
Cody Takács (contrabass)
Matthijs van Wijhe (piano)
Pedro Pinto (percussion)
Nancy Röder, Samuela Papotto (production)
Sadaf Amouei Kalareh (production of recording)
Costume atelier
Petra Finke
Loek van Cruchten
Gretha Geerds, Mara Wap (dresser)
Production
Manon Paap
Bryndis Brynjolfsdottir
Hanna Laber
Tjeu Schellekens
Technical production
Guido Verschoor
Technique
Bjørn van Doesburg (head)
Behrooz Vasseghi (stage assistent)
Demi Kortekaas (lighting)
Evert Achthoven (transport)
Marcel Wijngaards (sound/control captions)
Xavier Spruit Bleeker (programmer lighting)
Host of the extras and children
Laura Casasola Fontseca
Chagalle Pennink
Dave Lankhorst
OPERA2DAY
Harm Witteveen (business director)
Doldie Noorduijn (casting singing)
Meia Oei
Realisation of decor
Hét Decoratelier,
Martin Determann
Extras
Agustina Evelyn Vila
Alexandra van Ameijde
Anna Wiegman
Annelies Verbeek
Bianca van de Leur
Bo Mulder
Claudia Musters
Dave Lankhorst
Débora Póvoa
Dorienke Hesselink
Elya Degryse
Evelien Hillebrand
Ezequiel Macciuci Vicente
Helen van den Broek
Henriette van der Lelij
Hub Conen
Jan van der Putten
Jansje van Delden-Smit
Jody Klaasman
Joop Jansen
Jozé Jonkers
Laura van den Ende
Luuk Brinkman
Maddy Slotema
Marieke van de Muller
Mario Bogers
Mieke van Ginkel
Myrthe Van den Akker
Noah Veenhuijsen
Poul Gelderloos
Rebecca Schneller
Ria Jansen
Rian Craens
Saske Linssen
Uriël Schuurs
Children
Ayça Rizabeev
Jet Kroon
Liva Giesbert
Neomi Vanunu
Noé de Kogel
Skye Verbruggen
With special thanks to
Francis Maes, Hubert Smeets, Maddogs (Jeffrey Epping), Nadia Petrova-Knol, Ronald Tebra
Pictures
Bas Czerwinski
Campaign image
Stef Nagel
Artwork
CapeRock
Subsidiaries
Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur & Wetenschap
Gemeente Rotterdam
Sponsors
Brighter World
Erasmusstichting
G. Ph. Verhagenstichting
PWC
STOER
Stichting Elise Mathilde Fonds
Preferred suppliers
De Jong Tours
Peitsman licht & geluid BV
Winter Audio Service
Wonderland & Geschikt