Two Operas
Music, Dance & Film
Two new operas by the Irish composers Benedict Schlepper-Connolly and Garrett Sholdice — performed back-to-back on each night — combine music, film and dance to create an experience of feeling and atmosphere. Their idea of opera is a truly contemporary one: minimal, intuitive, immersive.
Benedict Schlepper-Connolly’s Heimat, which features the choreographer and dancer Liv O’Donoghue, focuses on the experience of modern-day nomads — the emigrant, the drifter, the commuter. Fast and loud, the performance layers interviews, film and song to reveal ideas about rootedness and belonging.
Garrett Sholdice’s Recueillement, as the French title intimates, is a more gentle, contemplative piece, with choreography by Silja Thomsen, film by Krishan Hukam and the mezzo-soprano Michelle O’Rourke. Imagine dusk, two women, the ritual of Javanese gamelan music, the yearning words of Charles Baudelaire, a sense of changing light.
