Slovene chamber music theatre, Tomaž Svete: A HERO OF OUR TIME, premiere

Photo: Kaja Tokuhisa, Peter Penko

The opera A Hero of Our Time is a contemporary and abstract work with a strong philosophical and socially critical stance. As one of just a few Slovene contemporary chamber operas written for the Slovene chamber music theatre it is an original, musically and intellectually challenging work.

The libretto of the opera was inspired by the play Kartoteka (The Card Index) written by the Polish playwright Tadeusz Różewicz. Różewicz built upon the tradition of Polish war and post-war literature, where the ideal was the usage of spare words, incidental word formations serving the aesthetics of the morally and existentially shattered and demolished world. In the libretto itself Tomaž Svete as an expert of music theatre, whose vast opera oeuvre is known for the diversity of opera genres and high innovativity, tackled the topic mentioned above in his characteristic manner. From the literary source he chose six scenes, most of them were majorly modified, on more than one spot the composer turned away from the original or incorporated his own texts. The second scene, which resembles the Lermontov`s Hero of Our Time, could be described as original work by Tomaž Svete, but the scene is written in the style of Różewicz. In the libretto the composer managed to further stress the refined humor, irony and sometimes socially critical sarcasm – the characteristics emanating already from the play mentioned. But even just reading the Kartoteka itself seems like this work is nowadays as topical as ever before, considering the general social situation we live in.

Music, libretto: Tomaž Svete, inspired by Tadeusz Różewicz’s play Kartoteka (The Card Index)
Musical conduction: Simon Dvoršak
Direction, set design, costume design: Kaja Tokuhisa
Performed by: Klemen Torkar (tenor), Katja Konvalinka (soprano), Irena Yebuah Tiran, Barbara Sorč (mezzosoprano), Rok Bavčar, Anton Habjan (baritone), Feguš String Quartet
Production: Slovene chamber music theatre
Co-production: Bunker, Ljubljana
In collaboration with: Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, Anton Podbevšek Theatre
Supported by: The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana City Municipality, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ljubljana, Maribor City Municipality

Ticket prices: 15 €, 8 € (reduced price)
Information, ticket reservation: info@bunker.si, +386 51 269 906