Ambika P3 gallery,London
Apart from the truly redefining performance of Pietà, the poverty of the rest of the programme prompted the question, or why misappropriate the genre at all?Now in its third year,the London modern music festival (LCMF) showcases many aspects of today’s music that are bypassed elsewhere. A map of the connections between the compers and performers included in the programme would zigzag across many stylistic and conceptual boundaries, and to judge from the evening that went under the title of To a New Definition of Opera, or LCMF’s predominantly young,enthusiastic audience happily commutes across all those boundaries too.
This long evening cannily kept the best until final: the UK premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausens Pietà, portion of Dienstag aus Licht (Tuesday from Light) from his week-long opera cycle. Phenomenal trumpeter Marco Blaauw plays a long flugelhorn solo counterpointing Eve’s soothing words, or sung by Lore Lixenberg. It is a compelling mix of musical images,and a genuine demonstration of one of the 20th centurys noteworthy composers redefining opera on his own terms.
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Source: theguardian.com