Archa Theatre

Opera La Serra (programme from the performance)

Opera for the Non-Recognition of Clarity and Performing (MF Dnes, 28. 9. 1994)

Music: Michal Vích
Libretto: Jaroslav Dušek, Michal Vích
Director: Jaroslav Dušek
Set and costume design: Petr Nikl
Musical dramaturgy and arrangement: Martin Smolka
Conductor: Petr Kofroň
Lighting Design: Viktor Zborník

Singers:
Mezzosoprano: Edita Adlerová, * Tereza Roglová
Baritone: Petr Matuzsek, * Zdeněk Klumpar Soprano: Gabriela Eibenová, * Ivana Kvasničková
Tenor: Vladimír Dolejší Slepá bába (Blind Hag): Lenka Vychodilová
Bass: Jiří Hansmann
Dwarf: Bronislav Oczadly
Vích the Composer: Michal Vích
Chorus: Vladimír Kožušník, Miloslav Šnajdr, Miroslav Mojžíš, Pavel Mesany, * Milan Kottas, * Karel Bartoš, * Jiří Přibyl, * Rudolf Nesvadba

Dancers: Marie Vrbová, Jindřich Běhal, Nataša Burgerová, Libor Olšaník, Renáta Pařezová, Zora Pavloušková, Kateřina Hajná, Monika Peková, Tomáš Pospíšil

Orchestra:
Flute, piccolo: Martin Čech, * Jiří Loukota
Flute, bass flute: Lucie Tarabová, * Daniela Tarabová
Oboe: Pavel Polášek
Alto saxophones: Václav Bratrych
Clarinet: Kamil Doležal, * Daneš Drábek
Bassoon: Andrej Sochor Trumpet: Pavel Borek, * Martin Smutný
Trumpet: Vladimír Smutný
French horn: Jan Šesták
French horn: Drahoš Kopečný
Trombone: Ivo Kopecký
Percussion, timpani: Jaromír Kubíček, * Zdeněk Šimůnek
Harp: Libuše Váchalová, * Bronislava Klablenová
Violin: Lada Jelínková
Cello: David Rejchrt
Double bass, percussion: Ivan Bierhanzl

* alternate

Production Manager: Tereza Typoltová
Stage Manager: Marie Sikulová
Vocal Coach: Soňa Šrámková
Technical Manager: Jan Minařík
Lighting: Viktor Zborník, František Lokaj
Sound: Zdeněk Svoboda
Sound effects: Hynek Nováček
Costumes: MCC, Martin Svoboda
Wigs and make-up: Hana Hojdarová
Masks: Josef Podsedník

World premiere September 23, 1994 and September 25, 1994

In a country which for decades listened to rock music sung in English, even though basic knowledge of English was not particularly high, an incomprehensible text should not be an obstacle to success. That's what Jaroslav Dušek, Michal Vích and I were thinking some time ago as we mulled over the libretto of their opera of their opera project which was commissioned by Archa Theatre. At a certain moment, their composition became weighed down with words. It was as if the music stumbled over them, was tied down by their meanings. And at the same time, words are so unimportant.
We all know the rustling of paper in the opera hall. Audience members search through their programs futilely to find the page with the second act and the singer spouts word at them helter-skelter. Wait, stop, I've lost the connection, I don't understand, cries the unhappy one. But the juggernaut rolls on. Usually the opera-goer returns home and then reads about why the little guy in green was moaning and what the woman in that translucent dress was saying to the prince.
This is what opera is like. The author of a libretto must choose words that will carry notes well, the composer then painstakingly joins them to a melody, the singer then tries to pronounce them properly… and still the audience doesn't understand. All attempts to create opera in such a way that the audience would understand all word have floundered. The creators of the Opera La Serra set out to do justice to the opera genre from the opposite direction. No one will understand the works - not the audience, not even the singers, the composer or (I suppose) even the author of the text. The made-up language, which the authors called "operanto", is a pure form which holds no hidden content. The action is established by what is actually happening on the stage. The right voices and the right physical bodies are freely assigned to the appropriate individual characters. Opera La Serra is first of all a play.

Ondřej Hrab

Act One

SITA SITAVÁ
Introduction

TALJI ŇJURASKO TIXONA
Love Duet

BUNTER NAHE FÜG
Solitary Memories

SLEPÁ BÁBO

Intermezzo

Act Two

ŠUM HA ŠUM HA
Swarm of the Underground Forces

JU HU JUHU
The Young Man's Silent Tears

SYKOTA REJTA ZUMRA MRUSKATA
Battle on the Peak

Intermezzo

Act Three

AHRA BAHRÁ
The Dwarf

BRUNTRE NACHTRE FRÜGRE ZONTE
Finding One's Own Picture

OŇ GOLA MARADŽINA
The Ball

AHRA BAHRÁ
Second Warning

JUSERVARE ROTARIA
The Young Man's Real Picture

TALJI ŇJURASKO TIXONA
New-found Happiness

SITA SITAVÁ
Closing

Michal Vích (1952)

Composer of music for production of Pěnkava s Loutnou (directed by Hana Burešová, Klub Řeznická 1982), Možná je na střeše kůň (directed by Hana Burešová, Divadlo J. Průchy 1986) and performances by the Recital Group Vpřed. He has also written music for Tomáš Vorel's films Pražská pětka (the story Oldův večírek, 1988) and Kouř (1990, soundtrack released by Ali Records the same year).

Jaroslav Dušek (1961)

Has been involved in theatre since attending gymnasium. In 1981 he founded the theatre company Vizita with Jan Borna. From 1986 to 1989 he acted in more than 180 completely improvised performances with Martin Zbrožek, under the name Vystoupení. he is the author of the play Pavučina, the radio plays Modlitbička, Narozeniny, Hudba budoucnosti, Hezké chvíle, and he writes screenplays for television and film. Since 1989 he has been performing with Alan Vitouš.

Petr Nikl (1960)

A graduate of SUPŠ (College of Applied Arts) in Uherské Hradiště (1976-80), AVU (Academy of Art, 1981-87), a member of the group "Tvrdohlaví" (1987-91), since 1985 a member of the theatre association MEHEDAHA. He has participated in several group exhibitions, and has had individual exhibits in České Budějovice, Opava, Zlín, Brno, Ústí nad Labem and Prague, as well as internationally in Germany and Austria. He is represented in collections in the National Gallery in Prague, Aleš Gallery of Southern Bohemia, Zlín Gallery and Prague City Gallery.

The exhibiton of Petr Nikl and František Petrák "The Puppet Theatre MEHEDAHA in Stiffness" is arranged through the cooperation of Revolver Revue.

Opera for the Non-Recognition of Clarity and Performing

Is it merely the spirit of the space, or just by chance, that in the place where E. F. Burian performed his Opera From The Country Fair, now comes the first fruit of a new opera, Opera La Serra, from a company whose members weren't in this world thirty-nine years ago? These members arrive with the same struggle of brushing up the traditional role of the opera without humiliating it.
          They experiment with everything, and all they adapt to somewhat familiar, yet unexpected radiating forms. With them, the audience almost immediately harmonises with the activities. In the corner of the space, the overture of the poor composer (the actual composer Vích himself) taps a motive on the piano, and eventually the stage is lit: in the center, a rather large puppet theatre becomes an entrance for the actors; above is an orchestra of sixteen members; the conductor stands in front as if he were a chandelier; along the sides, the singers. Bosses. They do not have any roles, merely their lines: Baritone (Petr Matuszek), Mezzo-soprano (Edita Adlerová), Soprano (Gabriela Eibenová), Tenor (Vladimír Dolejší) and Bass (Jiří Hansmann). They sing - fantastic without exception, as if on a CD - nicely, decoratively melodically, in a style spanning from Händel through to Gounod, from Puccini as far as Orff, accompanying variably the refined oboe, French horns, timpani, etc., thus an arrangement for a celebration in the forest.
          Under this ball, the sounding nobility, freed - thanks to the lovely gibberish language of "operanto" - from all the bustle and general activity, the "people" live below, danced by the young performers of the Ježek Conservatory. Their amusement has an individually moving order with the ballet, pantomime and elements of gymnastics: this rule is rounded off with the music from the choir, without taking its lead. The only pair who follow the activity of what is happening are Nataša Burgerová and Libor Olšaník - the two meet, lose each other and the find themselves aging. They are sent through the platform of the lover's lyric... On the borders of both worlds, there is the singing and dancing Blind Hag (Lenka Vychodilová),the Dwarf (Bronislav Oczadly)...
          We can hardly imagine Opera La Serra in any other way or any other place. The majority of the musical figures are independent: the main melody of Sita sitavá, the Swarm of the Underground Forces (Šum ha šum ha) and of course, the pop musical The Ball (Oň gola mradžina) fleers with the text... This is the next piece, after Brno's Hvězdy na vrbě, which the critics will want to see again - even stay for the second part.

Jiří Černý, MF DNES, 28. 9. 1994, (Author is a musical publicist)