Orfeo by Sasha Amaya. Image courtesy of the artist.
What lies between opera and the choreographic? How can we reshape the structures for how we hear through space and visuals? What happens to our oldest stories when they are told through new voices?
Choreo-Oper : Orfeo
Concept, creation, and research direction from Sasha Amaya
Music Direction and Accompaniment Trojan Nakade and Joss Reinicke
Performance Hyuneum Kim, Malena Napal, Avila Lorena Sarode
Visual and Light Concept Sasha Amaya
Costume Rike Zöllner
Original Musical Score Claudio Monteverdi
Compositional Intervention Sara Glojnarić
Outside Eye Elisabeth Leopold
Production Sasha Amaya, Falk Grever
Summer 2022
Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Berlin Senatsverwaltung, and Lake Studios Berlin
Orfeo by Sasha Amaya. Image courtesy of the artist.
Orfeo is Sasha Amaya‘s choreo-operatic research re-creation of Monteverdi’s 1607 opera based on the ancient Greek myth, through which she explores listening, proximity, power, and loss.
Using the interface between music and movement, and a re-casting of feminine-read bodies for all roles, Amaya explores what happens if we turn our attention from Orfeo to Euridice in this fabled tale. Balancing choreographic tools, musical expertise, and the relationality of bodies, the work juxtaposes tension and flow, restriction and agency, control and creativity.
With an interest in bringing new perspectives into opera, hosting musical theatre outside of city centres, and creating POC-directed teams in the field of new music, this new work from Amaya is hosted within the frame of Lake Studios Berlin and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Berlin Senatsverwaltung, and Lake Studios Berlin.
With a sublime compositional intervention from Sara Glojnarić, minimalist costumes from Rike Zöllner, and beautiful performances from Hyuneum Kim, Avila Lorena Sarode, and Malena Napal, Orfeo is a striking meditation on a well-known story through fresh eyes.
‘‘I don’t know if it’s the surprise, the vulnerability of the singers or simply that it’s a very good quality work that Sasha Amaya has crafted — but I’m entirely absorbed and then later I’m crying. The world is dramatically painful at the moment, and this opera allows me to weep for it… There is something about the incredible power in the voices of the three women singing on stage, with everything in their bodies held back and restrained that touches a deep nerve in me. There’s my 14-year-old self in the corner, crying over poetry and wondering how to make sense of the intensity of my becoming… Wow, hi opera — thanks for making me feel that.’’
Orfeo by Sasha Amaya. Images courtesy of the artist.