Veslefrikk

Knut VAAGE, born 1961, lives in Bergen where he works as a composer. He graduated as a pianist and composer from the Grieg Academy in Bergen. From the Norwegian Academy of Music he has received a professional certificate as a lecturer in composition. Vaage has worked in different styles of music, though concentrating on improvised and contemporary music. Many of Vaage's projects have investigated the boundaries between improvisation and composed music.Vaage's output ranges from symphonic works and opera to solo pieces. His music is frequently performed at concerts and festivals in Norway and abroad. Vaage’s instrumental works include Transit, commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture and premiered by Ensemble Court-circuit; Movements for major sinfonietta, commissioned and premiered by the BIT20 Ensemble; Continue, commissioned and premiered by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra; Chaconne, Hokkaido Gardens and Tjat, premiered by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.Vaage has also written a number of vocal works and works for the stage. His first opera Someone is Going to Come, was based on Jon Fosse's play with the same name. It was premiered by Opera Vest at the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival in 2000 and achieved good national and international acclaim. The opera has been released on CD. Ongoing projects include a full scale opera commissioned by the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, developed with the librettist Torgeir Rebolledo Pedersen, who also wrote the libretto for Veslefrikk.

SYNOPSiS:

With their hungry and screeching ”conversation” three crows introduce Veslefrikk's Land of Twilight. What they now most deserve, the crows proclaim, is a raw bloody steak. They expect their employer to provide them with this immediately. His name is Don O’ Day, the manager of the doll factory where our heroine Veslefrikk works while dreaming secretly of a fiddle. Veslefrikk works together with other unhappy children and young people. They all dream of becoming free, while Don hangs over them to make sure no one’s up to any mischief. Despite the strict control, the children manage to escape led by Veslefrikk: they sneak out one night with a load of dolls meant for export to the north. Though his entire workforce has escaped, Don is by no means at a loss for new plans and visions. Inspired by his crows, Don shifts the focus from day to night; Don O’Day becomes King O’ Night. And the factory? It will be a nightclub!

Elsewhere in the Land of Twilight we meet the fugitive Veslefrikk, who meets three strange creatures: the Duskers. One of them has no mouth, the other is missing both eyes, and the third lacks ears. How did this come about? Yes, it is the crows' fault. They stole mouth, eyes and ears and gave them to Don who used them all for doll production in the factory. Miraculously, a cuckoo lands in a tree bringing with it a magic fiddle. By playing the fiddle, Veslefrikk manages to give the Duskers back their voice, vision and hearing.

The Duskers encourage Veslefrikk to hide her hair in a cotton grass cap and her body in a cotton grass suit. From now on she will act as the Cotton Grass Kid. Should the King O’Night find her, he certainly will not know who she is! They play and dance with carefree joy. But Don O’Day, now King O’Night, tracks them down. He finds not just the Cotton Grass Kid, but all four of them sleeping, defenceless and exhausted. He takes them as prisoners to his nightclub. He now has what he needs: three cute Dusker girls who can perform and serve at the nightclub, plus a meaty "lad" to give to the crows.

The Duskers and the Cotton Grass Kid are held in captivity awaiting the opening of the nightclub. Soon the day arrives when the first guests are invited to witness the Cotton Kid’s fiddle playing and the graceful dancing of the Duskers. In the midst of all this an attempted escape fails catastrophically, and Veslefrikk is revealed. Veslefrikk is sentenced to death by hanging. But then yet another miracle occurs, again from the cuckoo. It lands on the gallows to offerVeslefrikk a very last wish before she dies.

She wishes to play her fiddle for the last time. With her magical fiddle playing she lures both the King O’Night and his customers into a swamp where they can't get out. Now Veslefrikk and the Duskers have total control. They decide to give the King O’Night a suitable punishment, namely, a penalty their conscience can live with, not blind revenge. At the very moment they agree, light appears over the Land of Twilight, the rays of the rising sun. The crows disappear, as do the nightclub customers. And Veslefrikk and the Duskers? They are now shining because they can celebrate their freedom and a new dawn.

Iulia VACARU (lyric soprano)

The Romanian lyric soprano Iulia Vacaru was born in Moldova. She started singing in her homeland, and graduated at the Niedermeyer Conservatory, France, where she won first prize in 2008. During a scholarship at the Mozarteum University she studied under Viorica Cortez, but also participated in masterclasses with Elio Bataglia and Herman Keckeis. She is the winner of international and French competitions including the Léopold Bellan Concours de Musique et d’Art Dramatique. She made her debut in Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris, and has performed in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and numerous television shows.

Alexander POLKOVNIKOV (bass-baritone)

The Russian baritone Alexander Polkovnikov graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod conservatory (piano) and studied singing at the Moscow Slavic University. He has appeared at the Arzamas Opera Theatre and the Prokofiev Theatre. He is presently a visiting artist at the Bolshoi Theatre and with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. He has won important competitions like the "Bella voce" and the "II. Independent International Competition for Opera Singers". His main roles are Onegin, Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades), Robert, Georges Germont, Alfio (Rustic Chivalry) and Escamillo.

Peter Szilvay

’Nobody serves as Mariss Jansons’ assistant for 3 years without being left with significant artistic marks. We are talking about a talented communicator, who easily talks to the audience in ways that lift the temperature in the hall and often tickle the audience into laughing.’Peter Szilvay first came to the fore as a conductor with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in 1996, ending his diploma studies at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo. He was soon spotted as an interesting personal profile among young Norwegian conductors: he was conductor in residence with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in the period 1998 – 2000, and he won the Norwegian competition ‘Conductor of the Year’ in 1998, followed by Mariss Jansons’ invitation to serve as his assistant. Peter Szilvay has gained experience from working with a number of orchestras: the St Petersburg Philharmonic as well as Scandinavian symphony orchestras and others.

Lili IZSÁK

The Hungarian set and costume designer is renowned for being the youngest and most ’in –demand’ set and costume designer of the world of Hungarian theatre. After receiving her ’Master of Architectural Arts’ degree she has studied Contemporary Stage Designing at the Academy of Film and Drama. Her first step into set designing was inspired by a ’Krétakör’-performance - Krétakör, a contemporary, alternative theatre company which operated without a permanent rehearsal or performance space. She decided to design an invidual building for them - for her Architecture Thesis, by turning an abandoned factory building into a space where they could rehearse. Her style as a set designer – empty, clean spaces, minimalist-functional sets - is marked by her past as an architect: ’To avoid creating a ’museum’ on stage, I’m striving to match classsical values with modernity ’. She is constantly working with Hungarian directors Tamás Ascher (Aki Kaurismaki: La Bohéme, Tiger Lillies: The Shockeaded Peter), Pál Mácsai (István Örkény: Cat’s Play, Georges Feydeau: Sauce for the Goose, István Tasnádi: Finito) Gábor Máté (Escapers, Szandtner Anna, Arnold Wesker: The Kitchen), Viktor Bodó (István Tasnádi: Transit, Through – Songs from the South) and Árpád Schilling (The Escapologist, New Year’s Eve Special). Veslefrikk is her first opportunity to work with Róbert Alföldi, an enthusiast for minimalist set design himself.

Fruzsina NAGY

The Hungarian costume designer has been ’constantly creating something’ ever since she was born. She started her studies in London, then received her Master degree in Budapest, at the Hungarian University of Applied Arts. Presently she is doing research for her DLA studies. She – in her own words – can be inspired by anything, and was always interested in the relationship of the human body and it's surrounding world in every aspect: costumes, masks, make-up, fashion or visuals. ’I always build up a system in every work I do, which doesn't necessary shows, but it's very important for me, because things are always reflecting on each other.’She takes every opportunity to work abroad, as traveling and other cultures are her greatest inspiration. A selection of her works: Stockheaded Peter (Örkény Theatre, director: Tamás Asher), Die Stunde…(Shauspielhaus Graz, director: Viktor Bodó), Mizantophe (Krétakör Theatre, director: Árpád Schilling), Night shelter, Le Dindon, Winter’s Tale (Gárdonyi Theatre, director: Gábor Máté), The animal farm, Dadaist (József Katona Theater, director: Yvette Bozsik), The pillowman, Alice! (Gárdonyi Theatre, director: András Dömötör).

Róbert ALFÖLDI is recognized as one of the most versatile artists in Hungary. He is an actor, director, painter, media phenomenon and a true devotee of classical music and opera. He studied piano for 15 years, graduated as an actor and was a company member of the Vígszínház between 1992 and 2000.

(July, 2004) at the renovated Margaret Island Open-Air Theatre, He already caused a storm when he directed his very first play in 1995, and has been in demand as a director ever since by theatres in Hungary and abroad. His work has been honored with numerous professional and public awards. In 2003, he directed his first opera, Faust by Gounod in Szeged, for which the National Theatre named him Best Director. Opera credits since then include Verdi’s AttilaLe Balcon by Péter Eötvös, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle at the International Opera Festival in Miskolc (2005), and three short works by Charpentier for the Royal Opera of Versailles, Paris, France. Alföldi directed Dicapo Opera Theatre’s wildly successful production of Robert Ward’s The Crucible (New York City, 2008), which went on to win the prize for Best Production at Opera Competition and Festival 2008. In 2009, he directed Tobias Picker’s Emmline at the Dicapo Opera Theatre, New York as part of the 2009 Opera Competition. The leading lady, Kristin Sampson was selected Best Female Performer for her portrayal of the title role, Emmeline. From March 2006 to April, 2008 he was the General Director of the Bárka Theatre, and since July 2008, Róbert Alföldi has been the General Director of the National Theatre Budapest. His current productions in the repertoire of the National Theatre, Hungary are: Moliére: Tartuffe, János Vitéz I., János Vitéz II., Botho Strauss: The Park, József Katona: Bánk Bán Junior, Schiller: Love and Intrigue, and the permanently sold-out Hunting Scenes from Lower Bavaria by Martin Sperr.