Opera

Based on an idea by Benjamin Alunni & Richard Brunel

Zylan will not sing anymore

  As I was looking for a contemporary vocal repertoire, I discovered a melodrama composed on a text by Hervé Guiert, Fou de Vincent (Mad about Vincent). I was immediately struck by this meeting between different worlds that had never come together before until then: lyrical contemporary music, acknowledged homosexual love, a musical work for just one singer, straightforward language totally grounded in the eighties, problems generated by the Aids pandemic and its consequences on people’s lives. I was enthralled by the subject and the internal mechanism of this unpublished work commissioned for Sidaction in 1994 and I immediately felt like creating a monodrama, in a similar spirit around similar and updated topics.

  The idea gained ground and I started sharing it with Youness Anzane and Richard Brunel who showed they were committed to questioning and challenging the different manifestations as well as the broadcasting methods of opera. It was essential for us that this monodrama should be aimed first and foremost at a new audience and at young people, at audiences that were either geographically distant or couldn’t be reached: deprived areas, suburbs, council estates, countryside, prisons, etc.…

 We looked for a librettist in tune with the present day and, after approaching several of them, we were naturally drawn to Yann Verburgh, a young writer who’d produced all sorts of texts linked to homosexuality, often inspired by true stories all over the world.

The idea gained ground and I started sharing it with Youness Anzane and Richard Brunel who showed they were committed to questioning and challenging the different manifestations as well as the broadcasting methods of opera.

It was essential for us that this monodrama should be aimed first and foremost at a new audience and at young people, at audiences that were either geographically distant or couldn’t be reached: deprived areas, suburbs, council estates, countryside, prisons, etc.…

 We looked for a librettist in tune with the present day and, after approaching several of them, we were naturally drawn to Yann Verburgh, a young writer who’d produced all sorts of texts linked to homosexuality, often inspired by true stories all over the world.

We then tried to envision together the starting point of a libretto, based on the true story of a pop singer, a star in his own country, an authoritarian and reactionary state. He was “suspected of being a homosexual” and disappeared in unexplained circumstances. This tragic occurrence could happen again. Homophobic hate incidents have been on the rise these last years in France, with 1870 victims of homophobic offenses in 2019, says Interior Ministry.

 This grounding in the here and now led us to composer Diana Soh whose qualities in writing music which verges on real theatre and her ability to engage musicians’ bodies, whether they be singers or instrumentalists I admire. Thus together with this team, author Yann Verburgh, composer Diana Soh, director Richard Brunel and dramaturge Youness Anzane, I eventually took the plunge, at last getting closer to achieving the monodrama I’d been dreaming of.

Benjamin Alunni

Composition : Diana Soh
Libretto| : Yann Verburgh
Zylan : Benjamin Alunni
Electric guitar|  Maarten Stragier
Cello | Loris Sikora
Percussion | Yi-Ping Yang
Dramaturge | Youness Anzane
Scenographer | Stéphane Zimmerli
Costume designers |  Valérie Marinese et Mathieu Trappler
Lighting designer | Victor Egéa
Artistic Collaboration  | Catherine Ailloud-Nicolas
Assistant stage manager | Valérie Marinese Assistant stage manager
Set and Costume Workshops| Opéra de Lyon
Creative Producers | Cie Anonyme – Les Indépendances
Coproduction Commande musicale | Chant de Linos
Coproduction | Cité de la voix, Opéra de Lyon,
With the support of the DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

World creation
6 November 2021

7.9.10.12.13.16.18 November

Théâtre du Point du jour
Opéra de Lyon

CHAMBER MUSIC

IN COLLABORATION WITH VINCENT GIROUD

A MUSICAL SALON

France-United States: a cross-national itinerary

The program offered here invites us to explore various aspects of the musical dialogue between France and the United States throughout the twentieth century: American musicians living in France, French musicians popular with American audiences and hosted by the United States, cross-linguistic exchanges, musical influences. […]

 

When French mélodie (melody) and Jewish culture embrasse (embrace)

CONFLUENCE{S}

The Confluence{s} project explores with unprecedented depth the various facets of Jewish cultures, through the concept of “Mélodie française”. This recital is the fruit of research into little-known or under-appreciated repertoires; it is the result of a creative process combining the folkloric melodies of Israel’s pioneers, pieces from a classical repertory, and contemporary music.

We owe these works – sung in French, Hebrew, Aramaic, or Yiddish – as much to famous composers as to authors, Jewish and non-Jewish, men and women, often unknown or forgotten. These works, destined to the concert, deliver pieces of our history.

Confluence{s} is an experiment, a dialogue undertaken in four languages, caught between tradition and modernity, Francophonia and Jewishness. It is the first time anyone has proposed a recital of melodies whose program is interwoven with Jewish culture. The musical heritage presented here spans from the 20th century to the present day.

IN COLLABORATION WITH STÉPHANE ETCHARRY

ANOCHECER EN ESPAÑA

“This Anochecer in España – this evening in Spain – offers exciting possibilities of travels tras los montes, towards the eternal myths and spells of the country of Don Quixote – the idealistic and poetic dreamer – Don Juan – the tireless seducer who gets burned because he’s lived his life of pleasure and opposition to established order too intensely – or else Carmen – the rebellious Andalucian cigar-maker, the icon of emancipated women – but also towards sun, heat, light, and the bygone past which never stops living on through costumes, festivities, songs and dances, the true cement of a proud people, aware of its own vigour – towards southern regions on the shores of the Mediterranean, reaching towards nearby Africa and its bewitching mysteries…”

In collaboration with Vincent Giroud

A French Living room

The program offered here invites us to discover various aspects of the musical dialogue that the United States and France have maintained throughout the twentieth century: American musicians established in France, French musicians loved by the American public and invited to America, crossovers linguistic, musical influences. […]

crossover

Par l'ombre

Conception, Choreography and Dancers: Nans Martin, Camille Ollagnier

Composer : Sylvain Ollivier

Collaboration and Singing : Benjamin Alunni

lied ballet

Choreography : Thomas Lebrun
Tenor and musical proposals : Benjamin Alunni
Piano :
Thomas Besnard

World creation Avignon Festival 2014 Cloître des Carmes
Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours –  Thomas Lebrun

Biennal de danse de Venise

 Programme Agorà

Campo Novo – Venice
Choreography : Thomas Lebrun
Singer : Benjamin Alunni

La jeune fille et la mort

Choreography : Thomas Lebrun • String Quartet Quartuor Voce I Singer : Benjamin Alunni • Centre Chorégraphique National de Tours : Thomas Lebrun