Back into the light, into beauty and into life! Spring symbolises the power of transformation, rebirth and an ancient promise of prosperity. What can this fantasy of abundance across geographical borders mean for us culturally, spiritually and sonically? The South African composers and performers Sbusiso Shozi and Nhlanhla Mahlangu from the Johannesburg Centre for the Less Good Idea take a new approach to the concept of spring with the chamber opera ‘Selemo’ through body, sound and voice. Together with soloists and orchestral musicians from the Komische Oper Berlin, they lead a musical conversation about the return to a deeply rooted understanding of nature beyond the colonial calendar system. African rites of passage meet baroque splendour, Vivaldi’s string concerto „The Four Seasons“ meets Umkhosi woMhlanga, the ritual reed dance of the Swazi.
CO-COMPOSER, MUSICAL DIRECTOR S’busiso Shozi
CO-COMPOSER, STAGE DIRECTOR Nhlanhla Mahlangu MUSICAL MENTOR Neo Muyanga PRODUCER Bronwyn Lace ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Dimakatso Motholo COSTUMES/STAGE DESIGN Nthabiseng Malaka LIGHT DESIGN Michael Inglis SCRIPT WRITER Stacey Hardy DRAMATURGY Sophie Jira/Dennis Depta
WITH Hlengiwe Lushaba Madlala, Tsegofatso Khunwane, Gregory “Kekelingo” Mabusela, Vhahangwele Moopo, Pertunia Msani, Alma Sadé (Performance) and the musicians Deniz Tahberer, Julia Lindner de Azevedo Conte, Magdalena Bogner, Arnulf Ballhorn and Tuyêt Pham
In Koproduktion mit der Komischen Oper Berlin und dem Center for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg
