Vasco Mendonça (born in 1977) The House Taken Over
Text for music by Sam Holcroft
after the novella Casa Tomada by Julio Cortázar
World Premiere
Commissioned by The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and LOD
| Musical direction | Etienne Siebens |
| Stage direction | Katie Mitchell |
| Dramaturgy | Lyndsey Turner |
| Set design | Alex Eales |
| Light | James Farncombe |
| Brother | Oliver Dunn |
| Sister | Kitty Whately |
| Orchestra | Asko | Schönberg |
Production / Coproduction
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Académie européenne de musique new production
In coproduction with LOD, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, De Singel and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon Asko | Schönberg ensemble
With the support of enoa – (enoa is supported by the European Union Culture Programme)
We were easing into our fourties with the unvoiced concept that the quiet, simple marriage of sister and brother was the indispensable end to a line established in this house by our grandparents. We could die here someday, obscure and distant cousins would inherit the place, have it torn down, sell the bricks and get rich on the building plot; or more justly and better yet we would topple it ourselves before it was too late.
Julio Cortázar, House Taken Over in End of the Game and Other Stories (London: Collins and Harvill Press, 1968) translated by Paul Blackburn
A brother and sister live like recluses in an ancestral house, the last of their line. Their days are filled with ritual and repose: cleaning, knitting, reading, cataloguing objects which belong to another time.
When a disturbance from within the house threatens to shatter their peace, the siblings seal off the offending rooms and attempt to carry on with life as before. But the strain becomes unbearable and they are forced to choose between the house they love and a terrifying world beyond the front door.
Inspired by a short story by Julio Cortázar, Portuguese composer Vasco Mendonça and English writer Sam Holcroft create a new operatic work for chamber orchestra. Directed by Katie Mitchell and staged against the magnificent décor of the Domaine du Grand Saint-Jean, The House Taken Over dramatises a relationship under threat from the ghosts of the past.
*Former artist of the Académie européenne de musique
Information
Venue
Dates
On 6, 8, 11, 13, 16 and 17 July 2013 at 10pm / Opening of the domain of the Grand Saint-Jean at 8pm
Prices
Prices: 70€, 50€ and 30€
Youth price: 15 €
Prices with the Académie Pass: 60, 40 and 25 € except on the premiere night
Discovery price for children on 8 and 13 July
Performance available within the Package
Catering provided in the Domain
More prices detailsMore information on the packages
1h without interval
Performance in English with French surtitles
Radio broadcast
Live broadcast on 11 July on France Musique
