Iphigenia in Aulis

Lenz Foundation

Maria Federica Masters | Francesco Pititto

IPHIGENE IN THE COURTS

Ah! how sweet he is, but it is difficult (Ah! Sweet, yet how difficult it is)

From Euripides and Christoph Willibald Gluck

Site-specific creation for ND’T018

VENUE < Saint Quirino Oratory

2nd -3rd4th5th6th July h22.30

 

Iphigenia
Two-year Project 2018-2019
Theater music diptych on the sacrifice of innocent females

2018 IPHIGENE IN THE COURTS
Ah! how sweet he is, but it is difficult (Ah! Sweet, yet how difficult it is) from Euripides and Gluck

2019 Iphigenia in Taurus
I am mute (I am mute) from Goethe and Gluck

 

IPHIGENE IN THE COURTS

Ah! quʼil est doux, mais quʼil est difficile is a contemporary opera that reveals the mechanisms of power, by showing the kind of violence male figures can perpetrate in order to exercise their dominance on the female body. Countering this patriarchal violence young Iphigenia’s feeble strength holds the highest moral function: her fragility makes her a terrified prey facing the horror of the sacrifice and at the same time a heroine conscious of her own inevitable destiny of death, though with Gluck’s and de Roulet’s radically different ending, so far from the Myth.

The décor of the scene will be a materic altar, “tender and cruel”, inspired by the organic works of Joseph Beuys. No ceremonies, no father to hate, no mother to desire, no past and no future, only an anonymous and bloody ‘this side’.

The work is interpreted by actress Valentina Barbarini, acclaimed by critics for her powerful theatrical performances, by Debora Tresanini, a young soprano student at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory of Parma and by bass Eugenio Degiacomi.

 

Ah! quʼil est doux, mais quʼil est difficile is a contemporary opera that reveals the mechanisms of power, by showing the kind of violence male figures can perpetrate in order to exercise their dominance on the female body. Countering this patriarchal violence young Iphigenia’s feeble strength holds the highest moral function: her fragility makes her a terrified prey facing the horror of the sacrifice and at the same time a heroine conscious of her own inevitable destiny of death, though with Gluck’s and de Roulet’s radically different ending, so far from the Myth.

The décor of the scene will be a materic altar, “tender and cruel”, inspired by the organic works of Joseph Beuys. No ceremonies, no father to hate, no mother to desire, no past and no future, only an anonymous and bloody ‘this side’.

The work is interpreted by actress Valentina Barbarini, acclaimed by critics for her powerful theatrical performances, by Debora Tresanini, a young soprano student at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory of Parma and by bass Eugenio Degiacomi.

IPHIGENE IN THE COURTS
Ah! How sweet, yet how difficult it is (Ah! how sweet he is, but it is difficult)
From Euripides and Christoph Willibald Gluck

Text and imagoturgy | Francesco PitittoInstallation, costumes and direction | Maria Federica Masters
Performers | Valentina Barbarini, Deborah Tresanini (soprano), Eugenio Degiacomi (bass)
Music and electronics | Andrew Azzali
in collaboration with A. Boito Music Conservatory

 

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