Opéra de Montréal presents the Montreal premiere of

Svadba

A cappella chamber opera by Ana Sokolovic.

“Come to me, my beloved! I have shed tears of pearls… Help me pick them up, so that I may kiss you.”

Music that is imaginative, daring, haunting, and seductive… a distillation of emotion and imagination. Six women, alone on stage…

Milica is getting married tomorrow! With five of her friends, she gets ready for the wedding. Singing and dancing, laughter and tears: everyday life will soon be left behind for something wonderful.

Synopsis
I. Friends Sing for Milica
The girls (Danica, Lena, Zora, Nada, Ljubica) are singing to Milica: tomorrow, she will get married. They sing of her long eyelashes and her pink cheeks, and they urge her to sing and dance with them.

II . The Dyeing of Hair
Lena prepares a mixture in a bowl, accompanying her movements with sounds she makes with her mouth. The girls begin by imagining the complaining of the future bride, who wanted to marry another man. Then they color her hair with a dye sent by her future father-in-law, the one who is taking Milica from her family.

III . The Marriage Proposal – Dance
Nada whispers to Zora and Ljubica to get ready to play a joke and they battle over who is going to ask for her hand in marriage. They then play out the scene, taking turns imitating the voices of the awkward aspiring husband and the mother. Then the six girls begin dancing wildly.

IV . Fight – The Competition Begins
Even though Milica was still dancing, Ljubica plays a joke on her by hitting her in the back. The six girls make fun of one another and start to get annoyed with one another. Lena tries to calm things down, but the conflict becomes a vocal competition with made-up words. The girls compare their jousting to a cock fight.

V. Bath
Danica leads her friends to a bath. As they get ready, the girls sing the family song of the fiancée who moistens her hair, her hands, and her chest with stars. This fifth part is a calm moment, meditative and poetic in this otherwise animated evening.

VI . Dawn – Getting Dressed
All the girls have fallen asleep, except Zora who uses an ocarina to imitate the nightingale. She first sings for the public, then wakes up her friends one by one. All together, they make to wake up Milica, encouraging her to prepare gifts for the family of her future. They must plead a bit with Milica to do so.

VII . Goodbye
Milica sings a nostalgic song alone to say goodbye to her friends, calling the wind to carry her toward her beloved. Her friends end up joining their voices to hers to take leave of her.

Language: Serbian (French and English subtitles)

For information and tickets: www.placedesarts.com 514-842-2112 or 1-866-842-2112

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