A castle without windows. Walls that breathe. Seven doors that had better remain closed. Bartók’s only opera is a psychological musical thriller. Oxalys performs the masterpiece in a razor-sharp chamber music version by Siebe Thijs for an ensemble of strings, wind, harp and percussion – less orchestra, more urgency. Katrien Baerts and Thomas Bauer present Judith and Bluebeard not as symbols, but as human beings of flesh, blood and doubt. Before the opera, you will hear sighs, breaths, whispers, moans: a new composition by Thijs that blows up the sighs from Bartók’s score into a stifling soundscape. Lise Bruyneel’s video performance drags us down corridors, past stairs and dungeons. Does the castle really exist? Or are we peering into a mind on the edge of collapse? The doors are ajar. Find out the rest when you step inside.
There are Dutch surtitles provided of the libretto sung in Hungarian.
Program
B. Bartók / adaptation: Siebe Thijs: Bluebeard’s Castle, sz. 48 | Siebe Thijs: sighs, breaths, whispers, moans
Performers
Katrien Baerts, soprano | Thomas Bauer, bass-baritone | Lise Bruyneel, video | Oxalys