Opara Hiort aig Fèis Dhùn Èideann/St Kilda Oper in Edinburgh

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Die belgische Version, aber immerhin.

The St Kilda Opera will be a highlight of the Edinburgh International Festival 2009. It was announced last night, at the launch of the Festival Programme, that the Belgian production of the opera will be performed for the first time in Scotland, in Gaelic and French, at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 15th, 16th and 17th August.

This award winning Belgian / Scottish co-production - L’île des Hommes-Oiseaux – was premiered in 2007 as one of five shows performed simultaneously in France Germany, Austria, and Scotland as well as Belgium and featured live links to St Kilda. The 2007 project was led by Pròiseact nan Ealan (The Gaelic Arts Agency) and won a Scottish Event of the Year Award.

Culture Minister Michael Russell said: “I am very pleased to see The St Kilda Opera on the programme for this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. The premiere of the opera was a remarkable achievement, putting Gaelic centre stage in five countries. Now the Belgian part of the project will be seen in the capital of Scotland during one of the world’s greatest arts festivals.

“Gaelic is an integral part of our national life and heritage, and of course, of our future as a country. It is also part of Europe's culture so it is vital that Gaelic has a place in the mainstream. Its inclusion in the main programme of the Edinburgh International Festival is a strong and positive affirmation of Gaelic’s importance to all of us in Scotland. Gaelic is the medium best able to convey the unique story of Eilean Hiort and her people and I look forward to being present when the work is staged.”

All five productions worked from the same script, libretto, musical score and audio-visual material but all were profoundly different in the nature of their venue and their visual and dramatic presentation. Each event featured live music-theatre with cliff dancers, actors, musicians, choirs and Gaelic singers in each venue, and all were linked by live satellite connection to St Kilda. The Scottish performance was also webcast live on the BBC.

The Belgian production, directed by Thierry Poquet and written by Gaelic writer Iain Finlay Macleod, presents its own distinct interpretation of the St Kildan story. Since 2007 it has been restaged in Belgium and in France to critical and popular acclaim, but this is the first time that this remarkable production will be shown in Scotland.

The production stars Gaelic singer and actor, Alyth McCormack, who also performed at the Festival launch last night. Alyth, who has been involved in the project since 2007, is thrilled to be at last performing the opera on home soil. She said: “"The St Kilda Opera is a stunning and moving production. I love performing it and have had a wonderful time working and touring with international theatre practitioners - I’m delighted the Belgian production will finally be performed in Scotland".

Malcolm Maclean, Director of Proiseact nan Ealan, said: "The Edinburgh International Festival is the world's most prestigious arts festival and prides itself in showcasing the world's best arts productions. We are obviously delighted to see the St Kilda Opera selected as one of the highlights of this year's festival. Over recent years the Gaelic arts have been developing new audiences and the five simultaneous St Kilda Opera productions in 2007 enjoyed huge success across Europe. The Belgian production is outstanding and a powerful staging of the St Kilda story that will be an inspiration for festival audiences."

Tickets will be available from the Edinburgh International Festival Box Office from the 4th April at 10am. Go to www.eif.co.uk or phone 0131 473 2000.
ENDS

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Gute Kritiken:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 802424.ece

I opted for St Kilda, Island of the Birdmen .... and it proved an absorbing evening in the theatre. Luckily, I had been forewarned to read my programme in advance, because the performance was spoken and sung mostly in French and Gaelic, with the only English text spoken by a Belgian narrator in an impene­trable accent. Needless to say, this was an international co-production between Belgian, French and Gaelic companies and funders — no English money, which may explain why we were punished with the Belgian accent — and it was based on an open-air project on the deserted island, scenes of which were filmed and projected onto two large screens comprising the production’s setting.

“Multimedia” can often be the excuse for a lot of theatrical faffing about with cameras and intrusive stagehands, but the simplicity of the staging (by Thierry Poquet), the moving story of the young St Kildan couple whose lives are torn apart by the hostile elements, and the beautiful Gaelic folk songs, hauntingly sung by Alyth McCormack — their idioms evoking a sense of timelessness and isolation — made for a gripping 90 minutes.

The “opera” is in three acts, played without an interval. If Jean-Paul Dessy’s score (with David P Graham) sometimes seemed contemporary-generic and backgroundy, the folk songs anchored the music in an accessible style, lending the work an emotional and truly operatic score. All three performances were sold out.