Swedish unique hit opera is staged in Germany


The chamber opera Valerie’s voice, by Christofer Elgh, is staged in Germany in a collaboration between Stadttheater Gießen and Hochschule für Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt. The opera has previously been performed in Copenhagen, Malmö and Stockholm and received a lot of attention.

Valerie’s voice is based on Valerie Solana’s SCUM manifesto. The opera form is open, flexible and written for soprano, four electric guitars and electronics. The unusual form and cast means that the work can be completely changed depending on the dramaturgy and stage direction. It is unusual for a newly written opera to be staged several times after its first premiere. The music in Valerie’s voice bridges different musical worlds and creates something new and relevant for the audience of our time.

Ann-Christine Mecke, artistic director of the Opera at the Stadttheater Gießen, became interested in the opera when she saw an earlier documentation from the performances in Sweden. In the new production at the Musiktheater Gießen, previously unperformed parts will be performed with a new dramaturgy in collaboration with the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt.

The set premieres on January 20 at Musiktheater Gießen and is played on five occasions during January and February.

Musical direction Günther Albers, Nemanja Lukic
Directed by Francesco Rescio
Stage and costume Maik Wendrich
Dramaturgy Ann-Christine Mecke
Composer Christofer Elgh

Ensemble
Musicologist Theresa Bub
Daddies Girl Ani Aghajanyan, Daria Tymoshenko
Extra Glenn Buchholtz
Guitarists Yeojin Jang, Henry Hardt, Axel Rohmer, Javier Cuenca, Steffen Ahrens and Christopher Brandt.

www.christoferelgh.se 

www.valeriesvoice.se 

www. stadttheater-giessen.de/

 

“Exciting grand opening at Bokdagar in Dalsland”


Leif Holmstrand and Christofer Elgh Photo: IngemarMedia

“An extraordinary experience when composer Christofer Elgh born in Åmål, in collaboration with the poet and artist Leif Holmstrand, partly born from Dals Ed, created a special multi-piece for the occasion. The eyes were naturally drawn to Holmstrand who, wearing a dress, with a certain amount of violence, but without haste, bax a pram, covered in torn black plastic, from the far end of the room and inward. At the same time monotonously reciting from the book The place where the cars queue up dead.


From the other side came Elgh’s screeching, playing electric guitar, guided by evocative sounds from the computer. Hard to describe, but interesting. Something like this has never before been done within the framework of Bokdagar in Dalsland.”

Provinstidningen Dalsland 28 juli

Lyssna på Eller Innuendo

 

Read more Leifholmstrand.se and Bokdagaridalsland.se

Bokdagar in Dalsland: Collaboration between Leif Holmstrand and Christofer Elgh

On July 27 at 10 a.m. it is the inauguration of Bokdagar in Dalsland

Leif Holmstrand,writer and artist raised in Dals Ed and Christofer Elgh, composer, raised in Åmål, perform their first joint literary, artistic and musical work of art together.

Bokdagar in Dalsland are five days of author meetings with new and old acquaintances at Not Quite in Fengersfors, Pilgrimsleden in Upperud, Bengtsfors bookstore, Tollebol’s mill, the Old Church in Åmål, Åmål’s city hotel and Åmålstravet.

Läs mer på bokdagaridalsland.se

Provrum för månar from Kometkarta and the Zodiac at Kronhuset in Gothenburg 31/3 19.00

Lipparella has in recent years completed a number of projects with a focus on the relationship between text, music and space, where new pieces of music have been staged in an art form between concert and musical drama. In the project“Zodiaken och Provrum för månar”, Lipparella continues to develop these perspectives. Here the ensemble collaborates with the poet Lina Hagelbäck and composers Christofer Elgh and Erik Peters.

Lina Hagelbäck-poet, Mikael Bellini-countertenor, Anna Lindal-barockviolin, Kerstin Frödin-blockflöjt & barockoboe, Louise Agnani-viola da gamba & barockcello, Peter Söderberg-luta & Teorb.

Kometkarta

The meeting between Ensemble Lipparella, poet Lina Hagelbäck and Christofer Elgh’s music originates in poems from Lina’s new poetry collection Kometkarta. Poems and music depict a world of planetary dimensions where comets, imploding forces, sinkholes, confinement, humour, and “a firework wrapped with strings” coexist. Lina’s poems and reading intertwine with the ensemble’s sounds, electronic music and voices in communion with the audience in the room’s various performative spaces.

Tierkreis

In Erik Peter’s version of the Zodiac, the music appears as a sounding starry sky. Karlheinz Stockhausen’s melodies are superimposed on each other in constantly changing combinations and the listener’s attention wanders between the different constellations. The musicians who are freely placed in the room together form the constellation Lipparella. The constellation reappears in a new form with each performance, as if viewed from another place in the universe.

Provrum för månar from Kometkarta and the Zodiaken
at Kronhuset in Gothenburg 31/3 19.00

First performance of “A distant request” at Sognegården Hjørring Denmark 26/11

MatsErikz
Jonas Ervolder Bové “Telegi”
Christofer Elgh “A distant request” (Uropførelse)
Mats Lindblad, guitar & Erik Sandberg, horn

Tekst og Lyd
Dina Flyvbjerg Ledet & Eirik Moland “Mangfoldighed” (2021, uropførelse)
Tekst: Dina Flyvbjerg
Lydlandskab: Eirik Moland

Solo cello
Martin Knakkergaard Tre Monologer for solocello (Uropførelse)
[1] … reformuleringer …

[2] … smalltalk …

[3] … aber dabei …
Deborah Josephson, cello

Oplæsning og billedkunst
Signe Gjessing Oplæsning
Forfatter
Pia Skogberg Kunstværker på storskærm
Billedkunstner
Kasper Anthoni Oplæsning
Forfatter

Duo Keller & Østergaard
Niels Chr. Rasmussen 3 sange efter Paul Eluard (2016)
Overs. Af Paul la Cour

1. Jeg har sagt dig det for skyerne

2. Månen i øjet
3. Mine timer
Marie Keller Sørensen, mezzo & Eva Østergaard, guitar

Foto & Lyd
Stine Viuf & Niels Chr. Rasmussen Verden i mit vindue (Uropførelse)
8 fotos af Stine Viuf sat i lyd af Niels Chr. Rasmussen

Nordskær
Mats Lindblad “Haltlåt i vintersol” (februar 2020, uropførelse)
Eirik Moland “Bak hytta” (2001)
Eirik Moland “Blåtime med Nordskær” (2021, uropførelse)
1 “Morgenen”

2 “Polska for to”

3 “Drøm”
Arthur Vetvik, violin
Mats Lindblad, guitar
Signe Wang Carlsen, bas

Eirik Moland, accordeon / synthesizer / percussion

Success for the opera Alice in Wonderland in Taberg’s mine!

“Christofer Elgh’s newly written music is both playful and powerful and it gives a lot of space”

“The performance highlights the bizarre and humorous sides of Alice in Wonderland, not least through the fantastic costumes and scenography”

“Likewise, the performance highlights the philosophical sides of Lewis Carolls Reality is turned upside down, upside down, magnified and diminished – nothing is ever as you think. We hear bells ticking and going without anyone really catching up “,

” All artistic expressions complement each other and contribute to a unity – a work of art – and an experience beyond the ordinary “.

Johan Fingal JP

First performance of the chamberopera “Alice in wonderland-the teaparty” in Taberg mine 18th of September

Between 18th and 19th September, visitors will be able to visit the Taberg mine, which these days is full of art, light, painting, sculptures and music. This year there will be a world premiere by Minopera of the musical-dramatic performance “Alice in Wonderland – the teaparty”

Music Christofer Elgh
Stage director Annika Veith
Julia Ojansivu Alice (soprano)
Wolfgang Veith Hatter/producer (tenor)
Ove Gotting March Hare (barytone)
Ann Roach The Dormouse (soprano)

Subterranea art colletive
Björn Skallström
Danilo Giannini
Arezoo Ghaeedvand
Marie Hertzberg
Sören Nordenström
Natasha Nichols
Sebastian Weissenbacher

Teaterstickorna
Eva Edevik
Martin Ahlberg

Tickets and info

https://jkpg.com/en/bankeryd-bottnaryd-taberg/subterranea-3-alice-i-wonderland/

Review of the dramatic song “Sincerity” in Piteå

Photo: Ulrica Loeb

Sincerity in Piteå

“Christofer Elgh’s gripping and sometimes touching primal screaming reaction around Norma Jeane Baker, alias Marilyn Monroe. Against a background of fiery red light shaped into something that can bring to mind both roses and blood-flowing brain twists, based on Baker / Monroe’s disillusioned text about the difficulty of being sincere and true in a world of lies, her in many ways tragic fate. Musically, we move from a slow introduction with crisp bells, strings over percussion and buzzing blows straight into an air-conditioned nightmare of hot-pitched sounds and sudden silences, sharp as gunshots.”

– Anders Lundqvist, Norrbottenskuriren

Sincerity
 (poem by Norma Jeane Baker)
Alexandra Büchel soprano, B Tommy Andersson conductor, Norrbotten Neo

Listen to Sincerity