Viva Verdi

This is not a performance. This is a protest!

It is about the sense of creating what nobody needs, and about the pointlessness of creating what is expected. Viva Verdi revolves around the story of whether it is possible to combine opera and performance, or why that would be impossible, pointless and unacceptable. Under the pretext that this is a protest, the performers present their reasons about what and why the artist should work. The performance on the theme of artistic laziness was created at the invitation of the Eurokaz festival and in collaboration with the ensemble of the HNK Opera Zagreb.

“The idea of Eurokaz artistic director Gordana Vnuk and selector Branko Brezovec to combine opera and performance is a pretentious festival concept that has nothing to do with the artistic goals of the Via Negativa project. It’s just nonsense and a cheap marketing gimmick. Via Negativa is a project of research into the basic relations of theatricality, and in no way a critique of existing stage forms, be they traditional or contemporary. We do not accept to participate in conceptual fabrications that festival directors use to justify their quasi-avant-garde and socially engaged status. That’s why we have decided that there will be no Viva Verdi show tonight. This is not a performance. This is a protest”. Bojan Jablanovec

Viva Verdi

2006 • Seven Deadly Sins
Performance opera • 70 min

Concept and direction — Bojan Jablanovec
Devised and performed by — Barbara Kukovec, Barbara Matijević, Bojan Jablanovec, Dylan Tighe, Gregor Zorc, Katarina Stegnar, Kristian Al Droubi, Marko Mandić, Petra Govc, Petra Zanki, Sanela Milošević
Opera consultant — Ivanka Boljkovac
Music — Giuseppe Verdi, opera arias from Rigoletto, Nabucco, Traviata, Il trovatore, Un Ballo in maschera
Opera soloist — Ivanka Boljkovac Dijana Hilje, Maja Mejovšek, Tvrtko Stipić, Vitomir Marof
Choir – Opera Choir HNK Zagreb
Pianist and accompanist – Darjana Blaće
Producer VN — Špela Trošt
Producer Eurokaz — Kornelija Čović
Production — Via Negativa, Kampnagel Hamburg, Eurokaz Zagreb, HNK Opera Zagreb
Koprodukcija — Glej Theatre Ljubljana, &TD Theatre Zagreb

Mention
Best performance of the 2006 / 2007 season, chosen by the Dnevnik Ljubljana critics