oriana

(2017) 47′
opera based on the tale “A Fada Oriana” by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen with libretto and music by Eugénio Rodrigues.


Program Notes

Introduction
Imagine you are walking in a garden and you find a fairy singing, a dancer amongst the trees, animals hiding behind the bushes and a poet writing in his tower. The audience are spread throughout the garden watching and following the action. They can hear the singing and music through wireless headphones. The musicians are in an enclosed space nearby, not visible to the audience until the end. 

The opera Oriana was conceived to be presented on stage (concert hall or theater) or outdoors (in a park, a botanical garden, or a forest) with the help of some technology. This performance concept has been used in other opera presentations and it allows opera to be presented outdoors with acoustic quality, to the point that one can hear a whisper from a singer in the distance. 

The libretto was extracted from the children's tale The Fairy Oriana, by Portuguese author Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919-2004), which serves as the basis for the outdoor performance possibility, mirroring the atmosphere where the story takes place. 

Oriana has a duration of 47 minutes, with an optional break, and was composed in the spirit of Maurice Ravel's, L'enfant e les surtilèges, aiming to be an opera for all ages. 

Singers:
Oriana - soprano (soubrette)
Queen of the Good Fairies/and of Bad Fairies - mezzo soprano
Fish/Spider - tenor
Poet - baritone
Narrators - treble voices (minimum 3)
Old Lady/Snake - contralto

Choreographer/Dancer (minimum 1)


Musicians:
a) piano
b) chamber ensamble


Score Excerpts

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