Event

Spatial Opera in the Dark CONFESSIONS

13 Dec 2018

Event times

19:00; 21:00

Cost of entry

£13

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The Round Chapel

London
England, United Kingdom

Address

Travel Information

  • 55, 48, 56, 38
  • Clapton, Hackney Central
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Event map

Opera Confessions will be presented for the first time in the UK on December 13th, 7pm and 9pm, at the Round Chapel (Hackney, London). Listeners are invited to close their eyes for a unique one hour experience of opera from within.

About

What is the power of our imagination? What is the essence of sound and why do we sometimes have such similar emotional, sensorial or imagery responses to it? Can music provoke our collective imagination?

These are the questions that lead the creators of Confessionsalong their way – composers Jens Hedman, Rūta Vitkauskaitė and soprano singer Åsa Nordgren.

Confessions explores the impact of taking away one of the senses: sight. You will sit blindfolded in the dark (blindfolds are handed out before the performance) and discover how the impact that our acoustic surroundings have on our imagination. 

‘When the sight was removed, the other senses started to come forward, as if listeners became more sensitive. It was as if we got ‘inside’ of the music rather than listening to it from the side seats. The opera became an experience, each listener was inside of it totally isolated from others’, – Maria Paškevičiūtė, the music reviewer, following the opera’s premiere in 2015, in Vilnius.

Opera Confessions was inspired by an interest in spatial electronics, in particular – the spatial acoustic sound and its impact upon the human imagination. Musical performance in the dark, incorporation of other human senses (smell, touch), and the removal of any visual aspect together strengthen the impact of music. The Christian idea of the seven deadly sins serves as the basis for the libretto. The seven parts of the Confessions are respectively concerned with the seven cardinal sins – lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride.

There is also one special seat for the audience – the ‘Pink Chair’. It is free of charge, but to be won through one real confession. The occupant of the seat experiences an extreme set of acoustic surroundings, smells, tastes and touches. Anyone who wishes to win this seat, should email us a sincere confession of a real sin they have committed to: spatialopera@mail.comby 6 December 2018. The selected person will be contacted by the organisers shortly after the competition is over, and will be asked to sign a contract on the day.

In 2016, Confessionswas awarded the Golden Stage Crossfor the best music, along with the Musical Nail of The Year award of the Lithuanian Composer’s UnionThe opera was performed in numerous concert halls and theatres and at festivals in Lithuania, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

Exhibiting artistsToggle

Jens Hedman

Ruta Vitkauskaite

Åsa Nordgren

Taking part

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