First performance 5 July 2012 Librettist J. M. Coetzee | Composer Nicholas Lens Language English | |
Premiere 24 October 2014 (2014-10-24)
Grand Theatre, Poznań | ||
Slow Man is an opera by Nicholas Lens to an English-language libretto by J. M. Coetzee, based on his novel of the same name. The opera was commissioned by the Malta Festival, Poznań and produced by the Opera Poznań.
Contents
It is the first time author and Nobel Prize winner Coetzee has collaborated on a stage adaptation of his work.
Although the operatic version differs from the original story, Slow Man is a contemporary opera that arouses deep emotions among each of the original main characters: Paul Rayment, Elizabeth Costello and Marijana.The opera is centered on a meeting arranged by Elizabeth Costello (the writer) between Paul Rayment, a man of late middle-age with an amputated leg and the blind Marijana. The meeting has not only a strong sexual connotation but themes as love, isolation, old age, and fear of demise are prevalent.
J. Roszak in Biweekly described Slow Man as a ‘high risk opera’ but also as 'an important operatic work'.
First performances
The opera was given its world premiere on 5 July 2012 at Opera Poznań Grand Theatre, Poznańl Wielki. The Grand Theatre Weilki Orchestra and Chorus was conducted by Bassem Akiki. The staging by Maja Kleczewska has been described as 'a subtle treatment of words and sounds with suggestive film footage by Wojciech Pus'. The set design was by Katarzyna Borkowska and the opera poster illustration was the painting The Advantage by Michael Borremans.
Instrumentation
The singers perform with an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes (one doubling on piccolo and one doubling on alto flute), one english horn, 3 clarinets (one bass clarinet), three bassoons (one bass bassoon), two horns, two trumpets (one flugelhorn), three trombones (one bass trombone), four percussions (including timpani), harp, piano and strings. The work also requires a three-part female chorus.