09 Mar 15-20 MAY 2022 – EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS: LOST AND FOUND (ROTTERDAM)
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 as part of EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS (2021).
Coproduction O. Festival for Opera. Music. Theatre.
Benjamin Haemhouts: conductor
Casco Phil: orchestra