2019
director: Celine Daemen
art director: Aron Fels
composition: Amarante Nat
voice: Sterre Konijn
libretto: Olivier M. Herter
sound and mix: Wouter Snoei
spatial sound: Daniël Berends
character rig: Louise van Putten
producer: Cas Ketel
artistic coach: Romain Bischoff
business coach: Karel Janssen
illustration: Ronja Ida Weia
grafic design: Mees Walter
marketing: Marita Hamer
thanks to: Mondriaan GGZ
The Opera of the Falling is a musical and visual research on the loneliness of sorrow. The piece is a virtual reality opera, inspired by interviews with people with a psychological vulnerability. With psychiatry as a mirror to the world we live in, the experience calls for reflection and universal recognition.
“The way the VR has been used to tilt the perspective between different 'I's' and the poetic form found to shape the paradox of despair – 'tell me my sorrow and say it quietly' – is impressive.”
- Theaterkrant
The piece was exhibited at Eye Film museum, Brainwash Festival Amsterdam and Fast Forward Festival at Staatsschauspielhaus Dresden, among others.
“Text (Olivier Herter) and music (Amarante Nat) effectively break down the experience into individual words and minimal sound parts. The VR places the viewer in the middle of the scene, which ensures that they gradually involve the pain and loneliness. The Opera of the Falling is a somewhat grand title for this short work, but the way the VR has been used to tilt the perspective between different 'I's' and the poetic form found to shape the paradox of despair – 'tell me my sorrow and tell it quietly' – impresses."
- Theaterkrant