Only the Sound Remains

Production de 2017 - Peter Sellars

• Music

  Kaija Saariaho

• Libretto

  Ezra Pound

• Libretto

  Ernest Fenollosa

• Conductor

  Ernest Martínez Izquierdo

• Director

  Peter Sellars

• Set design

  Julie Mehretu

• Costume design

  Robby Duiveman

• Lighting design

  James Ingalls

• Sound

  Christophe Lebreton

The timbre of the lute or the voice, the movements of dance and those of the wind are so many intangible treasures, the loss of which can be unbearable.
Only the Sound Remains brings together two short operas, Always Strong and Feather Mantle, inspired by two plays from Japanese No theatre: Tsunemasa and Hagoromo. After a violent death in combat, the tormented Tsunemasa reappears at court: his spirit has been deprived of the happiness of playing the lute, an instrument from which his skill once drew enchanting sounds. In Feather Mantle, a fisherman appropriates a mantle which he finds hanging from a branch.
A young nymph asks him to give it back so that she can return to heaven. In exchange, she promises him the offering of a dance.

Commission and coproduction with De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam, Canadian Opera Company, Toronto, Teatro Real, Madrid, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki
With the support of GRAME, Centre national de création musicale, Lyon

Only the Sound Remains

Production de 2017 - Peter Sellars

• Spirit, Angel

  Philippe Jaroussky

• Priest, Fisherman

  Davone Tines

• Danseuse

  Nora Kimball‑Mentzos

• Quatuor à cordes

  Meta4

• Antti Tikkanen

• Minna Pensola

• Atte Kilpeläinen

• Tomas Djupsjöbacka

• Kantele

  Eija Kankaanranta

• Flûte

  Camilla Hoitenga

• Percussion

  Heikki Parviainen

• Quatuor vocal

  Theatre of Voices

• Else Torp

• Iris Oja

• Paul Bentley-Angell

• Jakob Bloch Jespersen