“Föreställningen”

 is a one act chamber opera with music composed by Sven-David Sandström and libretto by Katarina Frostenson.

This project is a unique collaboration between the vocal-trio Tre Donne, Sveriges Radio/Berwaldhallen, Östersjöfestivalen and The Royal Swedish Opera.

Participants

 Initiators: Tre Donne: Miriam Treichl, Jeanette Köhn, Katija Dragojevic

Composer Sven-David Sandström

Libretto Katarina Frostenson

SVD 30/8-2016

Föreställningen

Kvinnlig smärta får röst och kropp i ny opera

http://www.svd.se/kvinnlig-smarta-far-rost-och-kropp-i-ny-opera/om/kultur:scen

Gruppen Tre Donne, mezzosopranerna Katija Dragojevic och Miriam Treichl samt sopranen Jeanette Köhn, är hängivet solidariska med sina roller.

Katija Dragojevics Ann har snittytorna öppna mellan känsla, kropp och språk, i attack och plåga en rasande Jeanne d’Arc. Miriam Treichl gör Henrika sinnligt moderlig, fram till dess hon tvingas återuppleva övergreppet – våldtäkten i en av operans starkaste scener. Jeanette Köhns högt slingrande koloraturer formar Zora till en fågel med bruten vinge, en skyggt fladdrande fjäril, en kuvad ängel. När hon kallas till föreställningen stelnar hennes medsystrar i väntan. En bedräglig stillhet som skaver.

Expressen 30/8-2016

Musikaliskt raffinemang

Svagt surrande stråkar och balinesiska gongar hör till de musikaliska raffinemangen. Allting är läckert framfört av sex musiker under Mattias Böhms ledning. Stråkar, klarinett, slagverk och piano. Sopranen Jeanette Köhn och mezzosopranerna Miriam Treichl och Katija Dragojevic utgör den suveräna operatrio som framsynt nog har hittat dramat och beställt operan av Sven-David Sandström. De vet att han är bra på att skriva för sångare. Och genom dem hör vi att han är det.

Dn 30/8-2016

Nyskrivet. ”Föreställningen” är en nödvändig opera om utsatthet.
Gruppen Tre Donne – Miriam Treichl, Katija Dragojevic och Jeanette Köhn – är initiativtagare och skönsjungande solister.
Köhns Zora försöker med vackert fladdrande koloratursopranstämma formulera ett brev hem till mor och far – och Fadern med stort F, självaste gud.
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/scenrecensioner/opera-forestallningen-pa-kungliga-operans-rotundan/

Aftonbladet 30/8-2016
Snygg och intensiv hysterisk maskerad
Sandström har skräddarsytt de tre solisternas partier, Jeanette Köhn, Katija Dragojevic och Miriam Treichl. Snyggt, intensivt och med inlevelse glider rösterna kring varandra i historien om hur de förbereder sig maskeraden, uppvisningen för läkarna som vill studera hysterikorna.

 

 “Föreställningen” is a one act chamber opera with music composed by Sven-David Sandström and libretto by Katarina Frostenson.

This project is a unique collaboration between the vocal-trio Tre Donne, Sveriges Radio/Berwaldhallen, Östersjöfestivalen and The Royal Swedish Opera.

Participants

 Initiators: Tre Donne: Miriam Treichl, Jeanette Köhn, Katija Dragojevic

 

Composer Sven-David Sandström

Libretto Katarina Frostenson

Director Ellen Lamm

Conductor Mattias Böhm

Set Designer / Light Designer Tomas Franck

Costume Stina Hedin

Mask Sofia Ranow

Singer Jeanette Köhn

Singer Miriam Treichel

Singer Katija Dragojevic

Piano Love Derwinger

Violin Leila Forstén

Violin June Gustafsson Lyng

Viola Karin Ahnlund

Cello Tamara Bohlin

Clarinet Per Billman

Percussion Olle Pettersson

 

Background

The project was started and conceived by the three of us, the trio Tre Donne. Our idea arose out of a desire to find a libretto that has both a historical as well as a contemporary perspective. We came across an internationally acclaimed play written by Katarina Frostenson called “Sal P” which tells the story of three women who are patients at Hôpital de la Salpêtrière in Paris. We contacted composer Sven-David Sandström, with whom we have collaborated on previous occasions and inquired whether he might be interested in composing a chamber opera with our voices as a starting point. It was with great joy and satisfaction that both Katarina Frostenson and Sven-David Sandström were on board.

 

The story

The libretto is inspired by many of the texts and photographs that remain from the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière. In the latter part of the 19^th century, women who were considered to be suffering from hysteria were cared for in the hospital’s neurological ward. Part of the women’s therapy, lead by the prominent neurologist Charcot, consisted in having them perform before an audience. Sigmund Freud, August Strindberg and Axel Munthe were just three of very many to witness these “performances”.

Charcot assembled a large photographic archive with the purpose of showing how physiognomy mirrored the psychiatric diagnosis and the various ailments. We recognised that this fixation on physical attributes, and the public gaze Charcot exposed these women to, has an ongoing and substantial relevance in our own time. Who is considered healthy and sane? Who is considered insane and ailing? Who has the right to diagnose and on what grounds? Women’s bodies are to this day subjected to scrutiny and critique. Even though we have reached a deeper level of insight about the danger and injurious effect this scrutiny has on women, the tendency persists and if anything, is on the increase. Social media plays a large role in this aspect. These issues are focal points we want to illuminate in “Föreställningen”. We are convinced that the smaller format of the chamber opera and the intimacy of the setting are ideal artistic parameters to relate this story in the best possible way.

 

Frostenson’s text portrays the vulnerability of these women as well as giving us an idea of their personal relationship with one another. By following them through the course of a day, we’re given intimate insights of the rapport the women had with each other and their exposure to the so-called medical experts. We also feel the anguish the women suffered relative to the performances they had to give at Salpêtrière. They are torn between the world’s and their own inner gaze, the discrepancy of their own experience relative to that of the onlookers. The intimate personal revelations of the text captures in a most gripping way the seclusion and the forced diagnoses these women were subjected to. (Many of Charcot’s patients quickly recovered after his death). It is the voices and stories of these women we witness, while Charcot’s presence hovers constantly and ever menacingly in the background. Sandström’s deeply evocative music not only takes us painfully close to these women’s inner conflicts of self-loathing, trauma and pain, but also captures the love and empathy that grew between them.

 

Tre Donne