THANKS TO MY EYES
OPERA by Oscar Bianchi (1975)
FRANCK OLLU, JOËL POMMERAT
Belgian première

Thanks to my eyes. Photo: Elisabeth Carrecchio

BRUXELLES: After the earlier creations of House of the sleeping beauties in May 2009 and Matsukaze in May 2011, La Monnaie presents for the first time a work by Oscar Bianchi, one of the most promising composers of his generation. Thanks to my eyes is a “chamber opera” for twelve musicians, commissioned by the T&M in Paris and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and created in July 2011 in Aix. The libretto, in English, is taken from a theatre text by Joël Pommerat, Grâce à mes yeux, created in 2003. This is the first collaboration in the world of opera of the composer and the man of theatre who will also be producing the work. Joël Pommerat is presently writing a new opera with the Belgium composer Philippe Boesmans, and commissioned by La Monnaie for 2014.

“In Joël Pommerat’s theatre the words search for one another, the sentences thrust themselves, break and curl up, until they emerge from the depth of silence, unspoken feelings and unconfessed secrets.” When one reads Didier Méreuze’s commentary on the work of this playwright, one understands why the composer, Oscar Bianchi, was seduced by the sophistication of this text whose fierceness and depth fit easily into the dense fabric, the resounding subtlety and the sharp sense of dramaturgy of Bianchi’s music. Not at all surprising that from the encounter between these two great artists of the 21^st century, rose a work of such magnitude

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Oscar Bianchi

After the creation in Aix-en-Provence, the French conductor Franck Ollu leads for the first time the Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie for the creation in Brussels.  At La Monnaie, in 2009, he conducted the concert Com que Voz, a composition by Stefano Gervasoni inspired by the Portuguese Fado.

The cast is composed of the world creation’s performers
. We will hear the German baritone Hagen Matzeit in the role ofAymar, the Scottish bass Brian Bannatyne-Scott in the role of The Father, the English soprano Fflur Wyn in A Young Blonde Woman, the Israeli soprano Keren Motseri in the role of A Young Woman in the Night and two actors in the roles of The Mother and The Man with Long Hair, the French Anne Rotger and Antoine Rigot.

Working alongside Joël Pommerat, we will find Eric Soyer for the scenography and the lighting, and Isabelle Deffin for the costumes.

PERFORMANCES | 

1 April 2012 (avant-première) – 15 :00

3, 5, 6, 10 & 11 April 2012 – 20:15

Théâtre National

Commissioned by T&M-Paris / Réseau Varèse & Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

Production Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

In co-production with La Monnaie ¦ De Munt, Théâtre National, T&M-Paris / Théâtre de Gennevilliers CDNCC & Musica – Festival International des musiques d’aujourd’hui de Strasbourg

Co-presentation Théâtre National

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