A few months after the world premiere behind closed doors, the Italian public will discover After Arethusa, a choral work by Sivan Eldar on an original text by Cordelia Lynn which will be premiered at the Venice Biennale on September 24, performed by the Accentus Choir its sponsor (with the Opéra national de Montpellier). A myth from ancient Greece tells of how the nymph Arethusa became water: escaping rape, she dissolved into a stream and, disappearing through the earth, is reincarnated as a sacred fountain. 

The author develops a new account of the myth which imagines a world more consensual than violent at the time of metamorphosis, playing on the notions of fluidity and liquidity in order to create a sensual description of physical love in its musical realization, Sivan Eldar places the choir as a witness observing the transformation of Arethusa, echoing the themes of the poetic text.

On September 21, the public of the Biennale will be able to (re) discover a “classic” of choral music of the 21st century, the Wölfli Kantata by Georges Aperghis for vocal ensemble and choir, a vast epic based on the famous text-drawings of Adolph Wölfli for their unbridled imagination and their enigmatic meaning, to say the least. A score which has been presented since its premiere in 2006 on multiple stages and which will find its prestigious performers, Neue Vocalsolisten and SWR-Vokalensemble, on the lagoon.

Sivan Eldar - After Arethusa 
For mixed choir & electronic device
Italian premiere: 24 September 2021 
Biennale de Venise - Théâtre Alle Tese 
Chœur Accentus
Marcus Creed, conductor
More information about the work

See the composer's interview about the work

Georges Aperghis - Wölfli Kantata
For vocal ensemble and choir
24 September 2021 
Biennale de Venise - Théâtre Alle Tese 
Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart
SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
Yuval Weinberg, conductor

Listen to the recording of the work