ELISION Gallery: The Navigator

Gallery: The Navigator, Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane

This is an opera about extremity of passion, about Eros and Thanatos, Desire and Death, the gamble of lovers and of war and choices made between annihilation or creation. The prelude to this ‘alchemical dream opera’ is played by a Ganassi recorder, an instrument long associated with lamentation, the erotic, and pastoral and supernatural realms. A counterpoint is provided by the sound of cicadas: a high pitch of desire and the rustle of the quivering feathers of an entrapped Angel of History. The Angel’s gaze takes in landscapes of tidal blood, unwinding rivers, glaciers, a comet, the ocean, the desert, and finally - in a vision of rebirth during which a cicada is placed on the eye of a foetus - the submarine amniotic world of the womb.

The opera opens into a scene of war and violation, war as unstoppable addiction, as ultimate gamble, in which everything is risked, including that which is most loved. Having been gambled and lost, The Beloved enters a river of transformation, unwinding into her shadow-twin, The Navigator. Together they travel through states of ecstasy and union but also separation and doubt. A sirenic chorus, comprising the figures of The Crone, The Fool and The Angel of History, acts as both provocateur and ally. Chaos and false signs continually obstruct the lover’s search for refuge, yet their anguish and infinite longing are accompanied by a hope that, in the face of destruction and death, keeps them reaching out towards the archetypal ‘honey’ of life.

The Navigator

Liza Lim / Patricia Sykes • The Navigator (2008) an opera in six scenes for 5 singers and 16 instrumentalists with electronics

Produced by ELISION Ensemble. Commissioned by the Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth Festivals and ELISION Ensemble in association with the Australian Government's Major Festivals Initiative.

30-31.07, 01-02.08.08 BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

19:30 Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, 420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley 4006

Brisbane Festival: The Navigator

09-12.10.08 MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

20:00 The Playhouse, Melbourne Arts Center, St Kilda Boulevard, Southbank 3004

Melbourne International Arts Festival: The Navigator

25-27.06.09 MOSCOW, RUSSIA

19:00 Fomenko Theatre 121165, г. Москва Кутузовский просп., 30/32, Moscow

Chekhov Theatre Festival: The Navigator

08.12.09 PARIS, FRANCE

20:00 Amphithéâtre Bastille, Opéra National de Paris, 120 rue de Lyon 75012

Festival d‘Automne à Paris: The Navigator (concert version)

Photography by Justin Nicholas, Atmosphere Photography

Erkki Veltheim | viola d’amore

Paula Rae | flute

Richard Haynes | clarinet

Talise Trevigne | The Beloved (soprano) • Philip Larson | The Crone (bass) • Debroah Kayser | The Angel of History (baroque mezzo-soprano) • Omar Ebrahim | The Fool (baritone)

Deborah Kayser | The Angel of History (baroque mezzo-soprano)

Genevieve Lacey | alto Ganassi recorder

Andrew Watts | The Navigator (countertenor) • Talise Trevigne | The Beloved (soprano)

Andrew Watts | The Navigator (countertenor) • Omar Ebrahim | The Fool (baritone) • Philip Larson | The Crone (bass)

Omar Ebrahim | The Fool (baritone) • Deborah Kayser | The Angel of History (baroque mezzo-soprano) • Philip Larson | The Crone (bass)

Omar Ebrahim | The Fool (baritone) • Philip Larson | The Crone (bass) • Deborah Kayser | The Angel of History (baroque mezzo-soprano) • Andrew Watts | The Navigator (countertenor)

Andrew Watts | The Navigator (countertenor)

Deborah Kayser | The Angel of History (baroque mezzo-soprano) • Philip Larson | The Crone (bass) • Talise Trevigne | The Beloved (soprano) • Omar Ebrahim | The Fool (baritone)