31 Jul 8 MARCH 2022 – EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS: LOST & FOUND (LONDON)

Posted at 17:18h in General, Past events, Past projects, Projects by

EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS

Every two years EUROPALIA puts together an artistic programme that focuses on a country or a theme. In 2021 the arts biennial will focus on an invention that changed the world: the train.
From 14 October 2021 to 15 May 2022, EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS presents a programme with space for visual arts, performing arts, film, music, literature and debate. The train will be examined from four perspectives: impact on society, sustainability, time and movement.
The theme prompted Muziektheater Transparant and Casco Phil to use the station as a crossroads for an opera. Hear how an opera scene is composed. See how the librettist distils a text from messages from chance passers-by, from a text message or perhaps even a letter. Experience the rehearsal. The rush hour has never been so inspiring!

Passers-by become spectators, travellers become participants. EUROPALIA this year is all about trains: the tracks that literally connect the continent. Together with Muziektheater Transparant, Casco Phil developed a connecting opera experience. A composer and a librettist spend a week in a glass box in the stations of Antwerp, Brussels Central, London St Pancras and Rotterdam. Every day, they compose a short, topical opera, co-determined by passers-by and their stories and performed during rush hours. The final composition will be a performance and a sound installation with live musicians and singers that can be visited freely for a week by anyone who wants to stop for a moment, either on purpose or by accident.

Lost & Found:
An idea of Casco Phil. A production of EUROPALIA, Casco Phil and Muziektheater Transparant in the framework of EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS (2021).
Coproduction Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, IOA International Opera Academy, O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre, BOZAR and Royal Opera House London.

(Realised with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and SNCB)

Annelies Van Parys: composition
Gaea Schoeters: libretto
Benjamin Haemhouts: conductor
Casco Phil: orchestra