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Gaudeamus Foundation presents
VOYAGER
a Cut-Up Mini-Chamber Opera by
Arnoud Noordegraaf
for mezzo-soprano, tape and video, dur. plm. 30 min.


Arnoud Noordegraaf: libretto, composition, video
Marieke Koster: mezzo soprano
Hester Jolink: decor
Luuk Vierhout: Light
Ianthe Elbers: dress
Synco Scholvinck: video editor

commisioned and produced by the Gaudeamus Foundation
for the Gaudeamus Musictheatre Festival, 2004

premiered at Frascati, Amsterdam on May 10th, 2004



pers reacties:

"...een prachtige, veellagige eenheid van tekst, beeld en muziek."
"...a beautiful, multi layered unity of text, image and music."

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"Now is dark the highmost hill, yet he has not come
(...)
Who will sympathise with a table and cry
and a table and a table and cry."


foto:Danielle van Vree

In Voyager two worlds collide, when a woman in the old Wild West era, sitting alone in her prairie-house, waiting for her ever-travelling cowboy husband to return home, is confronted with a mysterious object that falls literally from the sky into her life.

This mysterious object is the Golden Record, as found on board of the NASA Voyager sattelites, launched in the 1970's to explore the planets and travel on into deep space. Both sattelites have such a record on board, containing speech, sounds, music and images of Earth's science, nature and culture. The rear side of the record shows a diagram of how to use the included playback device in order to get the sounds out.


foto links:Danielle van Vree; foto rechts: Pieter Kers

In Voyager, the sattelite has made a miraculous return to Earth and meets the old farm house. The woman finds the record, in shards after it's hard landing, and regards it a message from her long gone man.
Putting the pieces together on her old Grammophone player, a wild collage of archive images, sounds and music is unleashed.


foto:Danielle van Vree

Searching for signs, she finds back old memories and makes a journey through her own past. Finally she comes back to reality and it comes to light that her husband is dead. She is just in the process of getting over his departure, and this absurd find helps her to find reconciliation.


foto:Pieter Kers

Voyager was commisioned by Gaudeamus for the first Gaudeamus Music Theatre Festival in Amsterdam.
For booking information please contact Gaudeamus: info@gaudeamus.nl or www.gaudeamus.nl

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