Opera Melancholica

Opera Melancholica premiered on 27 January 2020 at the Royal Theatre of The Hague.

OPERA2DAY and the New European Ensemble welcomed the audience to the anatomical theatre of the human mind. Through cinematic minimal music by composer Philip Glass and a story by Edgar Allan Poe, OPERA2DAY presented fantastic visions and horrifying delusions live at the theatre, boosted by a choreography by Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. The production focused on the Dutch première of Glass's compelling opera in two acts 'The Fall of the House of Usher', with a libretto by Arthur Yorinks based on Poe's story. The piece portrays the melancholiac pur sang Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline, who in this production is rendered by both a soprano and a female dancer. With Opera Melancholica, we immersed the spectators in Usher's melancholia and showed them all corners of the human mind.

In Opera Melancholica, thematic lines from previous OPERA2DAY productions came together. Hamlet (2018) was a psychological thriller. Dolhuys Kermis ('Madhouse Fair', 2013) brought a psychiatric institution to life on location, one of the five best performances of that year according to leading Dutch newspaper NRC. We already crossed the line of the unconscious, then unconsciously frivolous, in Dr. Miracle's last illusion (2017), according to the critic of the Volkskrant 'artistic fusion of a high level'.

Press quotes

“With this production, OPERA2DAY adds yet another success to an already impressive list” (Opera Magazine), “Philip Glass through psycho-analytical glasses” (NRC), “Extraordinarily beautiful” (Theaterkrant) and “Seductively morbid” (Opera Today).

The NRC wrote about the music: "Musically remarkable: unlike the loose tableaux in Philip Glass's revolutionary anti-opera 'Einstein on the Beach' (1976), his minimalistic notes in Usher serve a dramatic course. The music [... ] navigates effectively between driving pulsating tuttis and intimate chamber musical vistas." The Volkskrant about the singers: “Santiago Burgi (Roderick) and Drew Santini (William) sing excellently, but even more beautiful is the invisible and wordlessly sung contribution of soprano Lucie Chartin as Madeline."

The concept of the 'anatomical theatre of the psyche' provoked interesting reactions. Theaterkrant noted that "What you see on stage, if you are open to it, can very well lead to a confrontation with yourself and your own struggle to balance feeling and thinking." One of the spectators also stated this effect in an email: "I have rarely felt so fulfilled, I would almost say 'comforted', when leaving the theatre. A lecture for everyone who is professionally involved in whatever way in the psyche of his fellow man and its naked truth." And a wonderful compliment from Opus Klassiek: "Does perfection exist in theater? Until a few days ago I would have answered that question with a resounding 'no', but after seeing Opera Melancholica I'm not so sure anymore. Furthermore, this doubt was not raised by a company with a million-dollar budget, but by The Hague-based Opera2Day, a small company in opera country, but one with large ambitions. With Opera Melancholica, Opera2Day puts a shining jewel in their crown."

The collaboration with New European Ensemble and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam was praised throughout. About the silent role of dancer Ellen Landa as Madeline Opera Today (US) wrote: "The twitchy, obsessively repetitious choreography by Ed Wubbe of Scapino Ballet captured the seductiveness of the mad and the morbid. Snaking across the dirty water, her wet robe dragging behind her, Landa was a horrific and fascinating apparition." Theaterkrant noted that Ellen Landa portrayed a "beautiful, languishing, almost ethereal Madeline". The New European Ensemble and the conductor received compliments from France: "Les douze instrumentistes du New European Ensemble sont dirigés avec rigueur et enthousiasme par Carlo Boccadoro, grand défenseur du répertoire contemporain." 

We finish proudly with WeHague's Instagram post: "What a great, intense, cool performance! How so is opera not for young people? @Opera2Day makes opera accessible and we fully recommend this Opera Melancholica to everyone!"