THE STORY
Backwards from Winter is an hour long operatic monodrama exploring a single woman’s reflection on a love relationship as seen through various elemental filters of seasons, color, nature, emotion and memory and told through live voice, live electronic/computer music and multiple video streams.
She traces the past year with her beloved, moving backwards through time: from deep winter where she is in grief over his death, to autumn, where she experiences the sharp pain of losing him in a storm, through the summer’s heat of their passion, to the heart-opening birth of their love in spring.
Just as our conventional experience of linear time can be disrupted by deep grief or joy, this operatic work destabilizes theatrical conventions of narrative, character, psychology, conflict, language and setting as it explores impermanence, loss and love.
https://www.backwardsfromwinter.com/ https://darkmofo.net.au/program/backwards-from-winter/
Monodrama for Soprano, Electric Cello, Computer Sound and Video by Douglas Knehans (music) and Juanita Rockwell (libretto)
Backwards from Winter, performed at Dark Mofo in Hobart, Tasmania, in 2018, is an hour-long operatic monodrama. It explores a single woman’s reflection on a love relationship as seen through various elemental filters of seasons, colour, nature, emotion, and memory as told through live voice, live electronic/computer music, and multiple video streams.
She traces the past year with her beloved, moving backwards through time, from deep winter, when she is in grief over his death, to autumn, when she experiences the sharp pain of losing him in a storm, and on to the heat of their passion in summer and the heart-opening birth of their love in spring Just as our conventional experience of linear time can be disrupted by deep grief or joy, this operatic work destabilises theatrical conventions of narrative, character, psychology, conflict, language, and setting as it explores impermanence, loss, and love.
June 20–23, 2018 Australian premiere season
Foundation IHOS Amsterdam City Hall, 57-63 Macquarie Street. Hobart, Tasmania, 7001