Wait with Tan Dun and rehearse tea
05.12.2020
News
© Christian Schneider
For his music to Ang Lee's wuxia drama "Tiger and Dragon," Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun was awarded an Oscar in 2000. His opera "Tea: A Mirror of Soul" would have premiered on December 2 at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. It is still uncertain whether it can be staged on December 19 in front of an audience or only in a livestream.
Everything begins with a low A, with the dark, standing sound of the double basses, whose frequencies are reminiscent of mystical natural sounds. Then high-frequency waterphones, a shadow, a Tibetan singing bowl and suddenly, as if from the distant past, a voice, a melody. From a minimum of material, language, movement, opera are gradually formed - everything arises from little. Tan Dun works here like a magician of sound, whose magic reminds Kai Röhrig, Professor of Music Dramatic Design at the University Mozarteum Salzburg, of Richard Wagner's "Ring des Nibelungen," especially "Das Rheingold." "It begins at the bottom of the Rhine, and from this composed primal sound everything else emerges." The beginning draws one not only into Tan Dun's sound world, but immediately into the story: in a tea ceremony in ancient Kyoto, a monk drinks from an empty teacup and remembers his self ten years ago. In a kind of reenactment, the ceremony, the conscious experience of the ritual, acts as a trigger that confronts him with his painful memories. The tea ceremony has a high value in Asian culture. At the same time, it is associated with something social, sensual and philosophical. It forms the climax of an encounter and celebrates respectful togetherness, having to do with appreciation and mindfulness. "Our Asian students in particular flourish in the production because they can tell us something about the traditions of their homeland," says Kai Röhrig. "The opera is also extremely melodic and cantabile, reminiscent of works by Puccini, for example his ' Turandot ' or ' Madama Butterfly ' , both of which are also set in Asia. Opera voices who love Italian vocal music will feel at home with Tan Dun. More than that, Tan Dun's music has a stylistic openness and accessibility unusual for contemporary opera. He is a bridge builder of cultures. He wants to reach people and has great success in doing so. The subtitle ' A Mirror of Soul ' thus also applies to the music - one senses how students can draw from it and discover themselves in the process. That the ensemble has caught fire incredibly for this opera, of course, makes me very happy." Since the teaching content of the master's degree program in "Opera and Musical Theater" includes working on an opera production on stage with an orchestra and performing the opera in front of an audience as part of the master's examination, the university has made an immense security effort in recent months to make these study performances possible. "The university's rectorate and security management have been totally supportive from the beginning - all levers have been pulled to make sure we can teach our subjects despite Covid-19. It also makes you realize once again the complexity of making opera. It's about working on the voice, the language and the expression, and at the same time bringing all these aspects together in cooperation. An opera production cannot be realized online. It can simply only be done in analog and in presence. So in addition to the lack of an audience, the opera and theater industry is currently also suffering from the limitations in its day-to-day work," Kai Röhrig sums up. Following the example of the Salzburg Festival, the entire team and ensemble were tested weekly until the second lockdown, and contact persons had to interrupt rehearsals for 10 days. So far, there has been no positive case in the ensemble. "We have hope that we will be able to rehearse again from December 7 and have the premieres of the two casts on December 19 and 20. If it has to be without an audience, the performances will at least be recorded and shown as online premieres on the university's website on December 22 and January 6 at 7 pm. We would then have had only a three-week interruption, and the ensemble would be able to resume rehearsals rested and focused, and return to the opera stage. Above all, for the participants, all the budding singers and the symphony orchestra of the Mozarteum University Salzburg, I would wish that 'Tea' could actually be performed and reach many audiences*. The students have invested a lot of time, heart and soul and above all discipline in this project - also with regard to minimizing their social contacts during the rehearsal period," says Kai Röhrig. Until then, Tan Dun says, we'll have to wait and see.