Tomaž Svete: SOPRA LO AMORE

*When writing the libretto for Pyramus and Thisbe, the composer relied on the translation by Kajetan Gantar and the translation by the translator and publisher of the book, Michael von Albrecht. (Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart 1994; Ovid: Metamorphosen / P. Ovidi Nasonis Metamorphoseon libri quindecim; Metamorphosen in fünfzehn Büchern von P. Ovidius Naso).

The libretto of The Lady with the Dog uses excerpts from the novella by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, translated by Marjan Poljanec.

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture RS and the City of Ljubljana.

Tomaž Svete is an uncompromising composer whose diverse musical oeuvre has won him international recognition. A leading light of contemporary Slovene opera, he has enjoyed a musical career marked by numerous achievements and accolades and underscored by an incredible enthusiasm for composition and teaching. The remarkable musical creativity and technical mastery exuded by his music are reflected in the rich musical texture, complex harmonic structure and emotional depth that are the hallmarks of his masterful creations.

The most important place in his musical creativity undoubtedly belongs to compositions for voices and instruments. His evident passion for opera is reflected in an extensive operatic oeuvre that covers a wide variety of themes and musical approaches. The second concert of this edition of Slovenian Music Days will see the premiere performance of the composer’s twelfth opera, Sopra lo amore,  which is at the same time the fifth operatic project created for the Slovene Chamber Music Theatre, a company that has already inspired several new works of musical theatre in Slovenia.
The libretto, written by the composer himself, is based on Chekhov’s classic short story The Lady with the Dog,  in which life is portrayed in a humorous yet melancholy manner. Acting as a dramaturgical counterpoint to this story, is Ovid’s story of Pyramus and Thisbe  from Book IV of the Metamorphoses,  through which the composer returns to the art of antiquity. The young and beautiful Anna (the titular lady with the dog) and the bank official Arkady, both of them unhappily married, meet at a seaside resort and embark on a brief affair that grows into a great love. After they part, Arkady decides to go to Anna’s hometown to look for her. He finds her at the theatre, attending a premiere (an opera within the opera). The story ends with the unresolved question of how they are to find a happy ending for their love story.
The multiple layers of this work, with the action taking place on two separate stages, require an appropriate cast of soloists and two instrumental ensembles. The performance features several excellent Slovene singers: the characters of the central narrative will be interpreted by the versatile soprano Katja Konvalinka as Anna and the baritone Rok Bavčar, a frequent soloist in Svete’s operas, as Arkady. The parallel story taking place on the small stage will feature the passionate mezzo-soprano Ireneja Nejka Čuk as Thisbe and the tenor Gregor Ravnik, an artist equally at home in opera and popular music, as Pyramus. Svete’s new opera is directed by the acclaimed Croatian dramaturge and opera director Marin Blažević, who is also the manager of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, and conducted by the young conductor and composer Iztok Kocen.