NONline Opera

Futurists / Circuit

NONline Opera is an ode to a live meeting of an artist and the audience, or live meeting of people in general – as opposed to an online performance or a Zoom meeting. This partly a concert and partly performative “happening” takes form of a collage of events, scenes, music pieces, bits of (made-up) storytelling, videos and absurd comedy sketches – referring to the theater varieté form. NONline Opera is an interactive online/live event based on the music of Circuit, a highly eclectic (experimental rock, hyper jazz, contemporary classical, avant-garde electronics) 8-piece ensemble from London, UK, led by a Polish composer-performer, Jerzy Bielski.

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NONline Opera is a multicultural, cross-genre and interdisciplinary project bringing people from various different countries (Netherlands, Poland, Greece, UK, Portugal, USA, Belgium) together, all of them coming from as broad artistic spectrum as possible (opera, jazz, classical music, contemporary music, electronics, baroque, visual arts, digital culture, theatre). Material used in the performance partly comes from the existing Circuit repertoire and partly it is a new music, lyrics, and theatre text (created by the composer, lyricist, and artistic leader, Jerzy Bielski), new videos and light design (created by filmmaker and light designer, Thomas Brand), and graphic animations (created by audiovisual artist, Tatiana Rosa). The piece is made in a highly interdisciplinary way, which is why it has a “music theatre with multimedia” form.

Apart from the enthusiastic C e l e b r a t i o n o f L i v e (however, often with surreal, lost in translation misunderstandings, language mishaps, or speaking in codes instead of openly), this piece it is equally about addressing the issues, which are deeply rooted in our every day reality, such as: over-consumerism, greed, AI and technology-inflicted world, polarisation of societies, and social revolution of today. That’s why, in the end it becomes an attempt to make sense of the chaotic reality we happen to be living in, with a huge chunk of humour and distance to it, focusing on an interaction and creating a bond with the audience. Videos and other visual elements (animation, kinetic text, elaborate lighting) play a very important role in the show as well, emphasising the meaning of messages behind Circuit songs and making the whole experience a wholesome “feast-for-the-senses”.

Ensamble

Circuit is a highly eclectic (experimental rock, hyper jazz, contemporary classical, avant-garde electronics) 8-piece ensemble from London, UK, led by a Polish composer-performer, Jerzy Bielski. It has an incredibly diverse line up of people coming from different countries (Netherlands, Poland, Greece, UK, Portugal, USA, Belgium) and musical backgrounds (classical music, contemporary music, jazz, electronics, visual arts, digital culture, theatre).

Circuit received the Emerging Excellence Award from Musicians Benevolent Fund (UK) for album “Codes”.

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Creative Team

Jerzy Bielski (NL/PL) – Concept, composition, libretto
Thomas Brand (NL) – Dramaturgy, videos, post-production, lighting
Martijn Nieuwerf (NL) – Acting advice

Performers

Actor (“The Composer”
Martijn Nieuwerf (NL)
Flute, samples
Tatiana Rosa (NL/POR)
Voice
Olga Siemienczuk (DE/PL)
Guitar, Voice
Jerzy Bielski (NL/PL)
Trumpet
Matt Ellis Devitt (UK)
Drums
Zach McCullough (USA/GR)
Double bass, bass guitar
Ed Babar (UK)
Piano, keys
Abel Tuinstra (NL)

Supported By

Gaudeamus, Fonds21, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, BNG Cultuurfonds
The piece premiered at Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Tivoli Vredenbur, Utrecht) on the 10th of September 2022.

Other productions

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