novoflot.de

Do we still want to see people on stage feel something? And if the answer is yes: are they to approach it individually and authentically, or rather in a stylised manner, according to the rulebook of affect? Under which conditions do emotions come about? Do we want to feel something ourselves? Would we rather see others think? Which music, which singing would match current concepts of emotion and affect? Where is the transitional from affect to madness, where is the link between madness and singing, which seems to be so often suggested by the representation of emotion in opera? How does the psychological development of a character relate to the singer’s acute fear of the coloratura? What does devotion mean in opera? And what is needed for it?

With HOW WE FEEL, Novoflot is undertaking a fundamental research with all thinkable means of musical theatre. It is presented as a series of three thematic evenings at the opera. Each instalment of the series is developed as a musical-theatrical combination of new compositions and selected material from the opera repertoire as well as other genres like film, literature, science. The research directly addresses the very heart of the genre of opera: the affects, their representation or production with the old as well as the latest musical and theatrical means, the relationship between affect and narration, as well as the architecture of pathos on the opera stage. Each of the three parts is devoted to a different emotional state.

Part 1: Fear
Part 2: Exhaustion
Part 3: Happiness