Blown Off Course
An immersive chamber opera (duration 1 hour) in which the audience shares the space with performers and discovers their own way through the narrative.
Framed as an immersive experience including western and Japanese musicians and singers, a narrator, video projection and a chef cooking live (also a character in the story), the work explores relationships between Portugal and Japan through food and is structured around two parallel story lines (love stories / missed encounters) one taking place in the 16th Century and the other today.
Text is spoken by narrator, sung or projected, possibly with fragments in English, Japanese and Portuguese. The envisaged density in terms of text is relatively sparse throughout. Some references to Japanese traditional music aesthetics will frame the composition. Staging might allow for various spatial configurations and relationships between performers and audience.
Cast: 1 male singer, 1 female singer, narrator, chef Musicians: flute, violin, cello, percussion, shakuhachi, shamisen, japanese percussion (Tsuzumi hand drum. Hyōshigi clappers. Taiko), electronics
Duration: 1 hour
Composer - Pedro Rebelo
Librettists - Glenn Patterson, Lucy Caldwell
Commissioned - Music Music Portugal