Marie-Annick Béliveau,
Artistic Direction
Florence Blain Mbaye, Curator
Paramirabo
Mélanie Léonard, Musical Direction
OPER’ACTUEL | WORKS IN PROGRESS
8th ÉDITION


6 OPERA CREATIONS IN PROGRESS

Come discover excerpts from 6 operas in the making, in a wide variety of proposals, from chamber opera to musical theatre, with a detour through pocket opera and multidisciplinary performance.

WAKING THE WITCH
Ashi Day, music & libretto (United States)

LOST IN PLAIN SIGHT
Takuto Fukuda, music (Canada/Japan) & Patrick Leroux, libretto

BARBARA
Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna, music (Canada/Cuba) &
Pierre Berlioux, libretto

HOUSE ON FIRE
André Ristic, music & Cecil Castellucci, libretto (Canada)

SONGS OF THE DROWNING
Roozbeh Tabandeh, music (Canada/Iran) &
Sandeep Bhagwati, libretto

HORT/GARDEN
Elena Tarrats & Mario G. Cortizo, music (Spain)
Helena Tornero, text & Damien Bazin, soundscape

 

SOLOISTS
Florence Blain Mbaye, actress | Camille Espaignol-Jacques, soprano | Michal Aloni, mezzo-soprano | Marie-Annick Béliveau, mezzo-soprano | Min Sang Kim, counter-tenor | Joseph Grenier, baritone

PERFORMANCES

Saturday August 24, 2024, 7:30 pm
Sunday August 25, 2024, 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm

Espace Bleu, Édifice Wilder
1435, Bleury Street, Montreal

General Admission : 10 $

FORUM OPER’ACTUEL

This 8th edition will be preceded by a week of activities, meetings, discussions and exploration around lyrical creation.

AUGUST 19 TO 23, 2024
UQAM’s Department of Music, room 3080

PROGRAMME:

August 19 // Workshop for Secondhand Time Opera by Yuliya Zakharava

August 20, 5:00 pm // Ce projet-ci, lecture-performance by Sylvain Paré & Timon Vandroux, in collaboration with the National Theatre School

August 20, 7:00 pm // Public reading of Love Letters by Benoît Charest & 681 rue Saltêtre by Anthony Rozankovic

August 21, 5:00 pm // Raccoon Opera, lecture-performance with Rebecca Gray, in collaboration with Musique 3 Femmes

August 21, 7:00 pm // Sainte Marine in Progress, lecture-performance around Chants Libres’ new creation

August 22, 5:00 pm // Roundtable discussion with Oper’Actuel composers and performers, moderated by Florence Blain Mbaye

August 22, 7:00 pm // Screening evening Si Chants Libres m’était conté… hosted by Daniel Turp with Pauline Vaillancourt
A presentation by Revue L’Opéra

August 23, 1:00 pm // The Margins of Music, lecture-performance with Mario G. Cortizo (Spain)

All activities are free and open to all.

PHOTOS
ABOUT THE EVENT

OPER’ACTUEL | Works in progress is a highlight event of Chants Libres, which helps bring to life new operas while also familiarising young singers and the public with new forms of musical expression.

For this 8th edition, Chants Libres is inviting Florence Blain Mbaye as curator of the event. An interdisciplinary performer, professional oboist, actress and singer, Florence aims to develop a programme that invites the world of opera creation to question the nature and role of the singer, the opera performer in his or her vocality, musicality and physicality, and in his or her relationship with the composer and librettist.

At a time when operatic creation must work to decolonise and decompartmentalise, what role can the singer play in this process?

PARTNERS
Oper’Actuel | Works in progress 2024 is produced by Chants Libres, in coproduction with Paramirabo and presented in collaboration with Le Vivier. The forum is organized in collaboration with UQAM’s Department of Music, the National Theatre School, Musique 3 Femmes and Revue L’Opéra.
VIDEO 2022 EDITION
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