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22.8.05

Summer Opera: Undertow

Undertow, Finnish National Opera, August 2005One of the interesting operas offered by the Suomen Kansallisooppera (Finnish National Opera) this summer was a chamber opera by an Australian composer and directed by a Finn (performed from August 17 to 19). It was called Undertow, and it has been described as "cheerful and absurd, [...] mixing up opera, dance, theatre and multimedia and leaving a mismatched group of people stranded by the tide: life guards, a dancer, a newlywed couple, tourists and a conservationist." The opera was actually premiered last year, at the Adelaide Festival in Australia by State Opera South Australia, and travelled this year first to the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary, before going to Helsinki. Tim Lloyd's article (Opera's new following, August 19) for The Advertiser (Australia) doesn't say much:

The opera, about Australian beach lovers being squashed by the rising tide, uses popular music styles such as klezmer and ragtime.
I'd like to know more, but that's all I can find for now.

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