Love in another dimension (and win free tickets!)

It is only in opera that otherwise outrageously insane stories where a man who wears special glasses falls in love with a robot as he sees it as a woman, or a courtesan can steal a man’s reflection from a mirror for a reward of a diamond, and it can be done in a most poetic, romantic way.

A Singapore premiere with an international collaboration will be staged by the Singapore Lyric Opera with their latest production, Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman), see end of article to win tickets to the performance.

Helmed by internationally acclaimed director of Opera de Nice, Paul-Emile Fourny, the production is a cultural collaboration between the Opera de Nice and Singapore Lyric Opera.

An arresting musical manifestation of three short stories written by E.T.A Hoffmann who himself is a character in his own stories, the stories centre on Hoffmann’s unfortunate encounters with three of his life’s greatest loves - Olympia the marionette, Antonia the singer and Giulietta the courtesan.

The tales unfold with a brilliant revelation of characteristical embodiments of love and evil featuring a kaleidoscopic range of vocals framed by an intricately interwoven theatrical and musical set.

French conductor Benjamin Pionnier tells us more about the opera.

What do you find is most interesting about Offenbach’s opera?

Hoffmann Talesios indeed a great piece. Offenbach called it Opera fantastique. The entire story (the narrative itself) is fantastic, so is the music.

What's very interesting is the way Offenbach has created his masterwork - he took decades to compose some of the operettas.
Offenbach was more known for writing "lighter" opera,  always with funny situations and entertaining music. Then, at the very end of his life, he composed this masterwork, a dramatic grand opera!

He showed the entire world he was also a "serious" composer and this unique opera is one of the best operas in the genre.

Tell us about the stories themselves.

There are indeed four stories in the opera, the story of Hoffmann and the stories of the three women he has loved and lost.

His first one was an automate (a machine) and was broken, the second a singer and she died from singing, and the third one a courtisane who stole his reflection and for whom he kills a man for.
And during all this time, the Muse is watching on him and is truly in love with him.

Musically, Offenbach is at his best. The musical themes are extraordinary, and the orchestra sounds like a real character in the opera itself.

What is the most dramatic moment in the opera for you?

There are many dramatic moments (it is opera after all!).
Of course, Antonia (the singer character in the second story) has the most tragic moment in the opera. She is a singer, her mother died because of a disease connected to singing. As such singing is forbidden to her as it would kill her... all of this in an opera!

There will be many other dramatic moments in the opera, and the entire show to me is brilliant. Singaporeans will have the chance to see this staging, which is one of the bests I have ever seen myself.
The world-famous French director, Paul-Emile Fourny, has created a beautiful staging for the opera and, in my opinion, the best Hoffmann Tales production.

Finally, not unlike something like Aesop Fables, is there a "lesson" to take away from Offenbach’s opera for audiences?

The main lesson of Offenbach’s opera is told in the last sentence of the opera. You will have to come and watch the opera to know it. Here’s a clue, it is about love...

The production will also feature the Singapore Lyric Opera (SLO) Orchestra, with singers from the SLO Chorus, SLO Youth Choir and choruses from the Philippines and Malaysia. It is sung in French with English and Chinese surtitles.

The Tales of Hoffman are on at the Esplanade Theatre March 13, 14, 16, 17. Tickets from Sistic.

FIFO Contest

Tell us who are the three women Hoffman loved and lost in the course of the opera, and correct entries will stand a chance to win a pair of tickets to the opera itself!

Send your answers to contest@fifo.sg by 25th Feb '09.

Good luck!