THE ILIAD, chamber opera

Music: Aleksandra Naumovski Potisk
Script, directing, and libretto: Saša Potisk
Scenography: Maja Mihevc

Conductor:  Tilen Draksler (Inštitut.abeceda)

Soloists:
Matej Prevc – Achilles, baritone
Matej Vovk – Odysseus, tenor
Martina Burger – Tetida, soprano
Peter Jud – Agamemnon, baritone
Urška Kastelic – Brizejda, soprano
Zala Hodnik – Beautiful Helena, soprano

Ensemble:
Hana Žvagen, flute (Inštitut.abeceda)
Weronika Partyka, saxophone (Inštitut.abeceda)
Oskar Longyka, violin (Inštitut.abeceda)
Sebastian Bertoncelj, cello (Inštitut.abeceda)
Luka Jahn, percussion
Vladimir Mlinarič, piano
Alina Sofija Potisk, electric guitar

Aleksandra Naumovski Potisk is not only an exceptionally active pianist, but also an exceedingly fruitful composer, who first came to the attention of Slovenian audiences in March 2017, when her first children’s opera titled “Glasbena Hiša” (Musical House) premiered at the Slovenian Philharmonic (in coproduction with Cona 8, The Slovenian Philharmonic, and SNG Opera and Ballet Maribor). Her next children’s opera Martin Krpan, which premiered at the Brechthaus in Berlin in 2017, counts fifty performances. In November 2018, her first ballet for children titled “La Fontainove basni” (La Fontaine’s Fables) premiered with a top-tier ballet ensemble at Ljubljana’s Cankarjev Dom. In 2021 she won the SpevSLAM competition and saw the premiere of her opera “Mehurčki” (Bubbles). At the invitation of the Slovenian Embassy, her cantata “Misijonar,” which she wrote for the bicentennial of noted missionary Dr. Ignacij Knoblehar, was performed on the 30th Slovenian Independence Day at the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome. In March of 2023, her Concertino for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 14, with the meaningful subtitle “Ljubljanske Vedute” (Vedutas of Ljubljana), premiered at the illustrious Cankarjev Dom cultural centre. This year, our programmes will premiere a selection of her works. Her opera Illiad, based on Homer’s famous eponymous epic, was written as part of the composer’s master’s thesis and will premiere at this concert.

In the composer’s own words:
One of the foundational European ancient epics, apart from its immensely extensive story, also carries a range of symbolic premises that no adaptation should ignore in if it is to maintain the right to employ the title of Homer’s great work. This especially refers to traditionally interpreted thematic emphases such as the relationship between myth and history, attitudes towards war heroism and family life, the confrontation with mortality, and so on. With the given limitations, particularly regarding the possibility of casting roles, the duration of the performance, etc., the task of creating a concept and libretto borders on the impossible or is almost paradoxical, as it confronts the distinctly chamber premises of a chamber opera with the mega-epic assumption of the submitted text. Therefore, it is necessary to perform several reductions and analytical procedures, literally distilling the extract from the immense epic mass, and trying to artistically crystallize a partial, yet crucial aspect of the story through only the most essential themes, protagonists, and symbols.

The libretto or story of the opera, will focus on the psychological aspect of Achilles’ metamorphosis from a state of absolute, divine, mythical, heroic self-confidence into a more human, wounded, affected, offended human being and the associated consequences of this new and painful situation for him. Due to the length constraint of the mini-opera genre, we must forgo Patroclus and his death as the key trigger for the irreversible transformation into the new Achilles, as well as the temporary empathy and humanity during the handing over of Hector’s body to old Priam. All this part of the story will have to be encapsulated and combined in the epilogue. This omission is not too great a sin, as the Iliad itself refrains from describing the conclusion of the saga (with the Trojan horse and the burning included) and focuses on “the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus.” We are also interested in Achilles and his transition from the ultimate mythical hero to the psychologically vulnerable human and his breakdown, due to Agamemnon’s insult, into a raging killer, practically war criminal or even the most modern mass murderers who kill in schools, at youth camps, rock concerts, or shopping centres, especially if we consider the post-Iliad conclusion of the original mythological story with the genocide of the Trojans and the complete destruction of Troy. In the contemporary adapted story, we start from the situation of the conversation between Odysseus and his comrades with Achilles, or the unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation from Book 9 of the Iliad, and dialectically develop the main character through the afore mentioned three phases. In the adaptation, Achilles is a permissively raised narcissist whose mother ingrained an image of his own perfection into him, incapable of facing the humiliation of his girl Briseis being stolen by the superior, older, and socially dominant Agamemnon. This mental crack, manageable for most people, represents an insurmountable distortion of his self-image, which, due to his inability to relinquish illusions in his nurtured personal mythology, causes a breakdown of his personality. The only path left to him is thus the accumulation of rage directed at the real (historical) world around him. Achilles’ psychological diagnosis and disease development thus become a symbol of the Iliad’s confrontation between the mythological and historical interpretation or perspective on the world (or more precisely, Europe and its history), defined by slaughter, killing, and wars. Achilles is unable to transition from the imagined to the real, just as myth is unable to transition into history without frustration and total destruction, slaughter, and the glorification of death. Our history is objectively a history of wars and slaughterers. Achilles is invulnerable, except for his famous “Achilles’ heel,” which makes him mortal. In his mythical period, his heel lay in the field of the unconscious. With humiliation, it transitions into the conscious. Thus, in our Achilles, an insignificant insult is sufficient to create a mental crack large enough to collapse the false self-image and final downfall, which demands satisfaction in death. Not even the protection of “Hephaestus’ shield” (on which the contradictions of the world are depicted), or in our case, the psychological defense mechanism developed through the rejection of accepting the reality of the world, can save him. The relevance of the transition between the mythical and the real = historical is also an eternal human theme, as it is psychologically faced by everyone during their lifetime, if nowhere else at least during the transition from youth (infinite possibilities, all perspectives open) to adulthood, when an individual must necessarily reconcile with a different reality, self-limit, renounce many dreams, accept compromises, and face the limitations of life and social givens. Symbolically, through the psychological prism of the individual, this modernized adapted summary meaningfully translates enough of the epic to maintain the right to co-opt its title.

The outline of the story is thus clear. Odysseus has no choice but to play the psychiatrist, as he performs the function of reason, trying to act curatively, encouraging a diplomatically wise acceptance of the situation and reconciliation. Achilles is trapped in his self-image as a mythical hero and, despite all the attributes of human excellence, cannot cross the psychological line to a normal evaluation of human possibilities in giving meaning to his life, as this would disappoint his mother, betray the tradition, or simply no longer be Achilles. Agamemnon is ruthless, a typical egotistical predator of modern capitalism, who enforces his will from a position of power. He takes away Achilles’ promiscuous and morally weak girl Briseis, who quite easily accepts a richer and better-positioned lover. Achilles cannot consume the loss and hurt, although it is not a matter of love pain, but merely a wound to his vanity. From here on, the matter is clear. Achilles’ reaction is logical; due to the inability to avenge Agamemnon, he can only “burn Troy” and self-destruct. Odysseus may understand his dialectic but can change nothing. Fate works the same in mythology or psychology. Neither gods nor humans have an influence on it from the point of break.

The dialectic of the conversation between Odysseus and Achilles progresses dramatically in a linear fashion. Agamemnon, Thetis, and Briseis, and Helen of Troy appear/have appeared in the interspaces of memory and the present, in flashback and story, in myth and history, and are thus points of transition between prehistory and actuality.

There is a single setting (a psychiatrist’s clinic), which is also not merely a physical field but also an entrance into subconscious and symbolic spaces. The action takes place in the present, the scenery is modest, the costumes modern, while flashbacks need to be explained visually (e.g., with stage lighting, stage setup, or similar).

Complimentary tickets, courtesy of Večer, can be collected an hour before the concert at the venue. Reservations are not possible, spaces are limited.

In Collaboration with: Inštitut.abeceda and Akademija za glasbo Univerze v Ljubljani