Friday, May 17, 2013

Acis today ... a journey to Sicily

The final lines of Acis and Galatea (poetic verses composed by John Gay, Alexander Pope and John Hughes) read:

Hail thy gentle murm'ring stream,
Shepherds' pleasure, muses' theme, 
Through the plains still joyous to rove,
murm'ring still thy gentle love.

While the delights of this poetic imagery were inspired by John Dryden's English translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses that appeared in 1693, we visited the small town of Aci Castello and the coastal Sicilian fishing village of Santa Maria la Scala, where the underground stream is believed to be the transformation of our shepherd Acis.

I made a short video of what Acis' murm'ring sounds like today. It could be an interpretative key for our tenor!



Stefano Vizioli and a traditional Sicilian cart in Aci Castello

Sicilian puppets and a painted scene from Verga's Cavalleria Rusticana 

The fishing village Santa Maria la Scala

Santa Maria la Scala

The mouth of the stream Acis

Aci Trezza

The legendary volcanic rocks thrown by the Cyclops at Ulysses  (Aci Trezza)


Thursday, May 9, 2013

Royal Academy performers create opera scene

Last February I was given the opportunity at last to work with performers from the Royal Academy of Performing Arts (RAPA) in Thimphu together with stage director, Stefano Vizioli. This was the first time we got down to some serious rehearsal work in preparation for the opera production.

Given the challenges of integrating Western and Bhutanese art and performance expressions, our strategy together with our friends from RAPA was to discuss the particular moment in the opera where they appear and then brainstorm ideas with them on how to interpret the moment.

After discussing the possible kinds of movement, energy, costumes and musical accompaniment which might work, our RAPA friends took on a freely creative and interpretative role.

The video below captures one of these moments, a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes creative process of assembling Acis and Galatea in Bhutan.