The first Latvian opera has been reborn in an opera film – the premiere will be “Banuta” / Article

The premiere of the opera film “Banuta” is expected on October 15 at the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF), the film’s producers informed. The newly released film trailer provides the first insight into the work.

The authors of the opera are the Berlin Musical Theater ensemble “Hauen und Stechen” and Latvian artists – composer Jēkabs Nīmanis, musical theater playwright Evarts Melnalksnis, Latvian actors and soloists Laura Grecka, Armands Siliņš and Sniedze Kaņepe. As explained in the work suffix, “opera, the conditionality of the performing arts, contemporary performativity, humor and paradoxes converge in the genre of opera film. one hundred years after the premiere of Alfreds Kalnins’ first Latvian opera “Banut” in 1920.”

The opera tells the story of rescuing the new partisan Bauta from the carazona and getting into a foreign country, where instead of her happy marriage she is entangled in a chain of political intrigue and revenge. The message reflects both the Baltic mythical antiquity and the history of the Eastern European region in the 20th century. Baņuta, whose film features three actresses – singers, despite the tragic course of events, is full of passion, love and longing for life. Banuta fights suffering and his stalemate. The experience of the heroic war is of great importance in the action, which determines the mutual, violent relations between the traumatized characters. In this interpretation, Baņuta herself has also participated in guerrilla struggles and brings with her the experience of women who took part in the war in Eastern Europe in the 20th century.

As the authors of the opera film explained, “the opera was censored during the regime of Kārlis Ulmanis, forbidding the mention of Lithuania in the text of the 1937 production, while in 1941 the Soviet occupation government ordered the authors to write a happy ending to the opera. These motifs have been used in the interpretation of the opera, creating the three operas. ”

The Hauen und Stechen musical theater ensemble has been active in independent theaters in Berlin for almost ten years, as well as producing productions at the Hamburg State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and elsewhere. The ensemble is engaged in a radical reproduction of the opera’s golden repertoire, which, as the authors of the opera explained, “includes free interpretation of scenes, improvisation, creative performativity, involving not only singers but also performers and the introduction of humor fused with the tragic. “

The producers of the opera are Sanssouci and Story Hub. After the premiere of the film, it is planned to show it in special screenings with the participation of the authors in Rēzekne, Liepāja, Madona and elsewhere, as well as outside Latvia.

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