Denis Marleau, Stéphanie Jasmin & Dominique Pauwels - LOD

Two travellers, coming from nowhere, meet on the walkway of an abandoned boat. They talk about the voice of the sea, a French lesson for London pupils and the beauty of firearms... They introduce themselves to each other as the law of art prescribes: Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. On another bridge a child dozes. The singing of the mother swells and rises above the noise of the waves. This scene nestles in a conscience seeking its own fallen angel. The lights that once shone so brightly during childhood have now complete disappeared. ‘Je est un autre’ (‘I is another,’ Rimbaud).

‘L’Autre Hiver’ is an opera of our time. On stage we see two singers, the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble, a children’s choir and a women’s choir. Physical characters are interwoven with figures in video projections, live voices mingle with recorded singing, and boundaries become blurred. They accompany the two travellers’ journey, a story that moves forward on a boat frozen rigid with ice. ‘L’Autre Hiver’ is the new opera by Dominique Pauwels, to a libretto by Normand Chaurette, and directed by Denis Marleau and Stéphanie Jasmin. Denis Marleau is a renowned Canadian director whose artistic vision is based on ground-breaking literary choices, extremely tight directing and an innovative use of audio and video technology.