- Ludovico Einaudi
Winter Journey (2019)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by Teatro Massimo de Palermo in co-production with Teatro San Carlo di Napoli.
- 0000/4.3.2+2btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/str
- SATB
- 4 Voices
- 1 hr 30 min
- Colm Tóibín
Programme Note
Cast
Woman
Man
Politician and acting Voice from the Chorus
Acting Voice from the Chorus
Synopsis
Winter Journey tells the story of desperate migration from troubled, war-torn countries to Europe, in all its indifference and rejection. The story is told from the perspective of three characters: a man from an unnamed country moving from hardship to hardship as he seeks a better life in Europe, and the woman and child he has left behind. The choir serves as a Greek chorus, while a politician (a speaking role) intervenes intermittently with refrains that will be familiar to many European ears: “The boat cannot dock at our port,” “Why should we deal with this problem?” and, “We do not want strangers on our streets.”
Programme Note
Winter Journey is a journey into the contemporary desolate European winter, into the desperate loneliness of the ones forced to abandon their own country in order to embark for lands where they can beg and earn a living. This is a story which goes beyond the ordinary boundaries of love, whether it is defined as a romance between a man and a woman or between a baby and his parents. Loss, sorrow, loneliness, desperation, irony, these are the tones of the voices chasing each other, in a tragic meaning, which assumes sometimes the febrile tone of desire, at other times the lyric and moving one of absence.
Scores
Reviews
☆☆☆☆☆
Popular Italian ‘atmospheric’ composer Ludovico Einaudi stretches his wings with a full-scale opera, exploring the many and tragic dimensions of the refugee crisis which has engulfed Europe in the last decade. It’s a triumph; emotionally engaging, dramatically compelling and cathartic.
The story allows plenty of opportunity for Einaudi to bring his wonderfully evocative music to a range of dramatic situations, exploring the characters’ individual emotional journey, the official discourse of politicians, and reactions of the crowd and the stages of the physical journey itself across sea and land, from warmth to cold.
The musical layering provided by Einaudi continued seamlessly to Gianni Carluccio’s sets and lighting, and to the stage direction by Roberto Andò. The fact that the piece was conceived from the outset to incorporate video and that Einaudi’s music so powerfully conjures up visual images, made the video element of the staging entirely satisfactory and so much less perfunctory that the current fashion for video in opera theatres around the world.
It is impossible to underestimate how much Tóibín’s poignant, poetic mastery of English contributed to the success of this venture. The desperation of the characters, the fierceness of political discourse surrounding refugees and the confused reactions of ordinary people were all brilliantly captured in a spare, direct libretto that fitted seamlessly with Einaudi’s score.
Such a combination of creative talents comes together rarely, and it was a great privilege to witness the birth of a work than will doubtless begin appearing in festivals and in opera theatres around the world in the years ahead. Watch out Glyndebourne, The Met, Adelaide.
Was this opera? Absolutely. Should we treat Einaudi as a serious composer? Definitely.
More Info
- Ludovico Einaudi's first opera 'Winter Journey' takes the stage in Naples
- 3rd October 2023
- On October 7 and 8, 'Winter Journey', Ludovico Einaudi’s first opera will have its long awaited production in Teatro San Carlo Naples, in a co-commission with Teatro di Massimo Palermo who gave the world premiere in October 2019.