Muziektheater Transparant & Vocaallab Nederland & Asko/Schönberg - Alejo Perez

'Oresteia' is a musical masterpiece by one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, the French-Greek Yannis Xenakis (1922-2001). Inspired by the play by Aeschylus, during the sixties he set the tragic story of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and their son Orestes to music: a family tragedy about assassination and revenge, vendetta and justice. With a selection of vocal techniques and an impressive arsenal of percussion, Xenakis produced a razor-sharp score of impressive music on the intersection of avant-garde and archaism. Xenakis revamped the work four times, continuously filling it with new elements. In the definitive version, the baritone solo dazzles together with the omnipresent chorus, with vocal inflections that reveal the influence of Japanese Noh and Kabuki theatre. Byzantine liturgical music was also an important source of inspiration. The final version of this opera provides the basis for the production 'An Oresteia'. The director Caroline Petrick puts Xenakis' work into a context where the character Clytemnestra comes to the fore. The young Flemish composer Annelies Van Parys is writing a prologue, an epilogue and two emotional monologues that counterbalance Xenakis' aloof masculine sounds.