Choir Opera ‘Glaciers’

The choir opera ‘Glaciers’ is the opening show of the Curated Programme of Vaba Lava for the 2020/21 season and observes two generations – young people born during the 90s and their parents. The show combines music, text and dance to better understand if and why these generations, one of who lived in the Soviet Union, the other born after it fell, are different. The dramaturgy of the production is based on interviews conducted with representatives of these generations.
The core creative team is an active Lithuanian youth quartet – director Kamile Gudmonaite, playwright Tekle Kavtaradze, artist Barbora Sulniute, and composer Dominykas Digimas.
Kamile Gudmonaite developed the idea for the production a long time ago, during her theatre studies. Her attention focused more and more on the significantly different perceptions of art, and the world, by her classmates and teachers. Arguments over values, choices and taste were regular. The last push for approaching the subject actively was a generations themed Facebook post by one of the most important, maybe even iconic, theatre producers and academics in Lithuania. By someone in their 50s. In his opinion, the theatre coryphaeus called the generation born in the 90s a positivist hippie mainstream, naive in their fight for social justice. Kamile took the message personally as her productions are mostly based on social issues. This started a wider research process and boosted her interest to discover if and to what extent the generations of herself and her parents differ. She formed several questions. For example, why did the young producer feel so touched by the post made by a producer from an older generation? Was she afraid that he was right? Why is there a desire to change the younger generation? Might the older generation be afraid of getting replaced? Is the generation of this production afraid to end up ‘smaller’ than their predecessors? Why do young people sometimes feel anxiety or anger if called overly liberal and open?
The show’s young creators were born in a free Lithuania and bear the label of the so-called first free generation. They observe a general desire and need to understand the differences of the two generations, and the historical conditions that highlight value-based differences. They acknowledge that their generation has been blamed for being overly liberal and open, and they themselves have accused older generations of conservatism and narrow-mindedness. At the same time there is still a chance that actual generational differences, felt on a personal level, do not really exist on a larger social scale. The show establishes questions and focus points and sets out on an enthralling journey towards answers. The stage is given to two project choirs, directed by Reeda Toots, the conductor of the NUKU choir.
PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director KAMILE GUDMONAITE
Playwright TEKLE KAVTARADZE
Artist BARBORA SULNIUTE
Composer DOMINYKAS DIGIMAS
Video artist LAURA ROMANOVA
Light artist KAROLIN TAMM

Project choir directed by Reeda Toots.

PREMIERE: 19 September 2020

Director Kamile Gudmonaite graduated as a master of directing from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy in 2018 and is currently studying an art doctorate in the same institution.
For a young producer she has created remarkable and acclaimed work, directed classical theatre texts from Shakespeare to Strindberg in the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, and generated a lot of discussion and positive feedback with her modern theatre work. Her 2017 show ‘Trans, trans, trance’ received a lot of attention and successfully participated in several European theatre festivals. Kamile is considered one of the most upcoming young Lithuanian directors with a possibly great future career. Gudmonaite also highly appreciates music, and for the Curated Programme of Vaba Lava she combines her two passions in a choir opera.

* The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture