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VIDEO SAMPLES
The Gropius Ensemble
Israel's Interdiciplinary Group
Artistic director: Daniel Cohen
CONCERT LIST
Varese: Octandre
Itay Tiran's Monologue from Soldier's Tale
Stravinky: Soldier's Tale
'Kofadam' - the Trailer!
Matan Porat: 'Shooting an Elephant' - World Premiere
A musical drama, libertto after Geroge Orwell
Tuesday 31 August at 19:30, YMCA, Jerusalem
The Gropius Ensemble | Itay Tiran, Narrator | Daniel Cohen, Conductor
Matan Porat's Trilogy
KofAdam | Shooting an Elephant | Mario and the Magician
Three musical dramas for actor and ensemble
Texts after Franz Kafka, Grorge Orwell and Thoman Mann
Written for the Gropius Ensemble
Over the last few years the Gropius Ensemble has been a place of experimentation and new ideas. Inspired by their highly acclaimed production of Stravinsky's musical drama 'A soldier's tale', Daniel Cohen, the ensemble's founder and artistic director and talent-blessed actor, Itay Tiran, have maid it the aim of the Gropius Ensemble to stretch the limits of Musical and theatrical performance and blur the boundaries of the stage arts in order to create a new artistic genre that is truly a synthesis of these stage mediums.
They have found their counterpart in the Ensemble's resident composer, Matan Porat, one of Israel's most prominent composers and pianists who set of writing a piece for actor and ensemble, which would exploit the many versatile talents of the renowned young actor and the vibrant ensemble. Thus KofAdam was born. The libretto, written by Daniel Cohen and Matan Porat is based on Kafka's short story 'A Report to an Academy'.
In this short and amusing story written by Kafka in 1917, a monkey, the protagonist, tells the story of his capture and metamorphosis into human society. But from under Kafka's sharp Sinicism and humor serifs very pointiest questions about loss of Identity, belonging to more then one community and the meaning of freedom.
The life of the protagonist is dependent upon his casting off all memory and identity; only by achieving the end of that internal identity could actual biological life be maintained. Thus identity becomes a performance. It is not a static essence, a given, but a constantly reenacted self-representation.
Porat's unique musical language and his ability to plunge to great dramatic depth using very basic, almost circus-like material made his new musical drama an instant 'hit', receiving 12 performances by the Gropius Ensemble in the first year of its premiere.
It is during the work on KofAdam that the idea arose to extend the piece to include three short musical dramas that can be presented one after the other in one evening. It soon became evident that the central theme of the trilogy would be different variations and definitions of freedom.
Shooting an elephant (the trilogy's part II), is based on an short story written in 1939 by George Orwell that tells the story of a young British colonial officer who finds himself obliged, against his better judgment, to shoot a rogue elephant. It
is a chilling account of how imperialism must ultimately result in the loss of freedom not only of the occupied but also of the occupier.
The piece was commissioned by the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival and is an important step in following ideals that the Gropius Ensemble has set for itself, namely; creating an artistic genre that draws on different disciplines of the stage arts such as theater, lighting and music.
The trilogy's final piece, based on Mann's story, is planned to be Porat's most elaborate and theatrical yet, challenging the skills of the performers both as actors and musicians. It is planned to be premiered as part of the 2011 Felicja Blumental International Music Festival.
MATAN PORAT TRILOGY
Thomas Mann's Mario and the Magician is almost a literary étude, a study of the psychological mechanisms and hypnotic powers of tyrannies. The fable-like plot is humorous, aggressive, macabre and as irresistible as the great Cipola, Mann's the all powerful and sinister magician.
Matan Porat: 'Shooting an Elephant' - World Premiere
A musical drama, libertto after Geroge Orwell
Tuesday 31 August at 19:30, YMCA, Jerusalem
The Gropius Ensemble | Itay Tiran, Narrator | Daniel Cohen, Conductor
Jerusalem Chamber Musica Festival Opening Concert
