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Stefan and Lotte in Paradise

Stefan and Lotte in Paradise is a 1-hour chamber opera collaboratively written (on a 50% basis) with Brazilian composer Marcos Lucas to a libretto by Philip Goulding.

Stefan and Lotte in Paradise is a 1-hour chamber opera collaboratively written (on a 50% basis) with Brazilian composer Marcos Lucas to a libretto by Philip Goulding. The libretto depicted the last year of Austrian Jewish writer Stefan Zweig spent in exile in Brazil. Williams also produced the opera, with theatre direction by Mark Babych. The role of Stefan Zweig was created by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, with instrumental parts performed by Psappha.

It was premiered in the Digital Performance Laboratory in Media City UK, Salford, with ACE funding, and was the first opera to be commissioned for this space which allows integrated use of digital imagery and live performance. Two audiences viewed the production simultaneously, one in a live theatre space, and one via a wall of Christie tiles with the signal transmitted by HD TV cameras. Interactivity was encouraged for the „screen” audience via additional content on internet-enabled touchtables situated around the venue. A qualitative audience survey was carried out comparing the audience response to the digital interactive and the traditional operatic experiences.

Compositional questions related to the process of collaboration between two “notation-based” composers. This was achieved through a conscious process of analysis of early drafts and exchange of compositional material. We believe it is the first time opera has been written by such composers simultaneously. Source material for the composition included manuscripts by classical composers originally owned by Stefan Zweig and now in the British Library. Zweig’s letters and records were consulted to ensure that music quoted in the opera represented manuscripts particularly favoured by Zweig himself.

The piece and associated audience research was discussed at a paper given at the International Society for Intermedial Studies in Cluj, Romania, October 2013 (“Opera in the Digital Medium”.

More detail is provided here: http://alanwilliams123.wordpress.com/projects/stefan-and-lotte-in-paradise/

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http://stefanandlotteinparadise.wordpress.com/