A Cloud in Love

Chorus Sponsor

The GNO Alternative Stage opens the 2022 season with an enchanting fairy tale from the East, a hymn to humanity. The new opera for children and young audiences A Cloud in Love by composer Sofia Kamayianni on a libretto by Eleni Zafiriou based on Nâzım Hikmet’s fairy tale of the same title comes to the GNO Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center to take audiences on a journey to far-away places and times through the power of music and poetry. A performance of high symbolisms and emotional richness, A Cloud in Love will run from 8 January 2022 for ten unique performances.

With eyes set on the dimension of collectivity, which marks the aesthetic and political standpoint of the original material, the operatic adaptation by composer Sofia Kamayianni and author Eleni Zafiriou stands out thanks to its bold dramaturgical choice to cast the award-winning Rosarte children’s and youth choir in the narrator’s role, as a character that gets involved in the events, comments, sympathises and takes a stand for fairness and brotherhood. The seven-member instrumental ensemble is conducted by Sofia Kamayianni; Eleni Efthymiou, one of the most remarkable directors of the younger generation, directs.

A Cloud in Love by celebrated Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet is a genuinely romantic allegory for idealistic activism, which enduringly moves us to this date thanks to the honesty and sensitivity with which it praises universal values such as freedom, solidarity, friendship, the struggle for social justice, self-sacrifice, and deep love for life, while condemning the violence of war, exploitation and greed.

Among his other works, Nâzım Hikmet also penned short stories inspired by his home country’s tradition. They are written in the form of didactic fairy tales targeted at children of all ages. A Cloud in Love is one of these short tales, ripe with elevated thoughts and lofty feelings.

Tenderness and sensibility, this fairy tale’s main pillars, were the driving force for the creation of Sofia Kamayianni’s new opera. “The special challenge in this particular work, and an inspiration for its conception, was my dramaturgical choice to have the (exceptional) Rosarte children’s and youth choir, to whom the work is dedicated, starring as the author-narrator-chorus. It tells the story, highlights its meanings, and at times it takes part in what the roles say, sympathising with them and following the flow, while also determining to a great extent the style of the music writing. All this without a trace of children-centered “conveniences”, in line and in cooperation with Eleni Zafiriou, who created an inspiring poetic adaptation of the fairy tale into a libretto. In the musical style, intense lyricism alternates with the rhythmic dynamism resulting from the constant action and the conflicts. They are of equal importance dramaturgically, that is why I gave special emphasis to their expression. The interpolating electroacoustic sounds – processed natural sounds –extend the imaginary space of the Land of the Flute or add qualities to the flowers (lament), creating peculiar sonic volumes alongside the live voices. The combination of all these elements into a contemporary musical language aims at the activation of symbolisms in the deepest levels of high vibrations-feelings, thoughts, and messages conveyed by this work. PS. Reading this note, two years after the abrupt cancellation of our first scheduled performance, I first thought I should write something completely different under the influence of the emotional vibrations and the huge changes brought about by the pandemic. In the end I left it unaltered; I only feel like adding two words: emotion and gratitude,” notes Sofia Kamayianni.

The poetic form and the references to the language of folk tradition running through Eleni Zafiriou’s libretto as well as the dialogue between lyric expression, rhythmic activity and poetic use of technology imbuing Sofia Kamayianni’s musical language are both employed in the service of the high symbolisms and emotional richness marking Hikmet’s poetic work. “A Cloud in Love is the person who collectively fights for the vision of a new society and gives even their own life, if needed. The Cloud in Love loved life too much and gave his own life for it, living inside us forever,” notes Eleni Zafiriou.

In turn, Eleni Efthymiou’s direction, in her first collaboration with the Alternative Stage, combines an austere stage aesthetic with the magic of fairy tales, creating an atmospheric theatrical form that is tantamount to the revolutionary lyricism of the original, both mysterious and dynamic, addressing young audiences with generosity, hope and faith in the future.

“We started working on A Cloud in Love with the goal of presenting it to audiences in March 2002. Two years later and amidst a very hard time for humanity –both in relation to the humanitarian and health crisis and to the environmental one–, Nâzım Hikmet’s fairy tale comes, more topical than ever, to warm us with its poetic symbolisms and brighten us up with hope. We chose to render the story in a way that it serves the magic and strangeness of the fairy tale along with scenic austerity. To us, the characters serve as archetypes of human behaviour on the one hand, and as archetypes of nature itself (earth, water, fire) on the other hand. The elements of nature we encounter in the work are portrayed symbolically and come to life through the way they affect the ensemble of the characters, emotionally and in terms of movement. The atmosphere created by the synergy of music and visual design, at times mysterious and at times polemic, aims at highlighting the work’s existential and political messages. The performance, imbued with love by its entire creative team, is delivered to the audience with the goal of inspiring them with strength and faith in a better future. Because, as the narrators in our work say, ‘the new that’s coming, is born by the pains of the old’, notes Eleni Eftymiou.

The performance features 70 members of the Rosarte children’s and youth choir, founded and run by conductor Rosie Mastrosavva. The capping stone of her career is the four gold medals she received at the three Choir Olympics she took part in (Graz 2008, Riga 2014, Tshwane South Africa 2018) as well as her being awarded by the Athens Academy for the highest contribution to Greece’s artistic firmament.

The GNO Alternative Stage opens the 2022 season with an enchanting fairy tale from the East, a hymn to humanity. The new opera for children and young audiences A Cloud in Love by composer Sofia Kamayianni on a libretto by Eleni Zafiriou based on Nâzım Hikmet’s fairy tale of the same title comes to the GNO Alternative Stage at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center to take audiences on a journey to far-away places and times through the power of music and poetry. A performance of high symbolisms and emotional richness, A Cloud in Love will run from 7 January 2022 for ten unique performances.

With eyes set on the dimension of collectivity, which marks the aesthetic and political standpoint of the original material, the operatic adaptation by composer Sofia Kamayianni and author Eleni Zafiriou stands out thanks to its bold dramaturgical choice to cast the award-winning Rosarte children’s and youth choir in the narrator’s role, as a character that gets involved in the events, comments, sympathises and takes a stand for fairness and brotherhood. The seven-member instrumental ensemble is conducted by Sofia Kamayianni; Eleni Efthymiou, one of the most remarkable directors of the younger generation, directs.

A Cloud in Love by celebrated Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet is a genuinely romantic allegory for idealistic activism, which enduringly moves us to this date thanks to the honesty and sensitivity with which it praises universal values such as freedom, solidarity, friendship, the struggle for social justice, self-sacrifice, and deep love for life, while condemning the violence of war, exploitation and greed.

Among his other works, Nâzım Hikmet also penned short stories inspired by his home country’s tradition. They are written in the form of didactic fairy tales targeted at children of all ages. A Cloud in Love is one of these short tales, ripe with elevated thoughts and lofty feelings.

Tenderness and sensibility, this fairy tale’s main pillars, were the driving force for the creation of Sofia Kamayianni’s new opera. “The special challenge in this particular work, and an inspiration for its conception, was my dramaturgical choice to have the (exceptional) Rosarte children’s and youth choir, to whom the work is dedicated, starring as the author-narrator-chorus. It tells the story, highlights its meanings, and at times it takes part in what the roles say, sympathising with them and following the flow, while also determining to a great extent the style of the music writing. All this without a trace of children-centered “conveniences”, in line and in cooperation with Eleni Zafiriou, who created an inspiring poetic adaptation of the fairy tale into a libretto. In the musical style, intense lyricism alternates with the rhythmic dynamism resulting from the constant action and the conflicts. They are of equal importance dramaturgically, that is why I gave special emphasis to their expression. The interpolating electroacoustic sounds – processed natural sounds –extend the imaginary space of the Land of the Flute or add qualities to the flowers (lament), creating peculiar sonic volumes alongside the live voices. The combination of all these elements into a contemporary musical language aims at the activation of symbolisms in the deepest levels of high vibrations-feelings, thoughts, and messages conveyed by this work. PS. Reading this note, two years after the abrupt cancellation of our first scheduled performance, I first thought I should write something completely different under the influence of the emotional vibrations and the huge changes brought about by the pandemic. In the end I left it unaltered; I only feel like adding two words: emotion and gratitude,” notes Sofia Kamayianni.

The poetic form and the references to the language of folk tradition running through Eleni Zafiriou’s libretto as well as the dialogue between lyric expression, rhythmic activity and poetic use of technology imbuing Sofia Kamayianni’s musical language are both employed in the service of the high symbolisms and emotional richness marking Hikmet’s poetic work. “A Cloud in Love is the person who collectively fights for the vision of a new society and gives even their own life, if needed. The Cloud in Love loved life too much and gave his own life for it, living inside us forever,” notes Eleni Zafiriou.

In turn, Eleni Efthymiou’s direction, in her first collaboration with the Alternative Stage, combines an austere stage aesthetic with the magic of fairy tales, creating an atmospheric theatrical form that is tantamount to the revolutionary lyricism of the original, both mysterious and dynamic, addressing young audiences with generosity, hope and faith in the future.

“We started working on A Cloud in Love with the goal of presenting it to audiences in March 2002. Two years later and amidst a very hard time for humanity –both in relation to the humanitarian and health crisis and to the environmental one–, Nâzım Hikmet’s fairy tale comes, more topical than ever, to warm us with its poetic symbolisms and brighten us up with hope. We chose to render the story in a way that it serves the magic and strangeness of the fairy tale along with scenic austerity. To us, the characters serve as archetypes of human behaviour on the one hand, and as archetypes of nature itself (earth, water, fire) on the other hand. The elements of nature we encounter in the work are portrayed symbolically and come to life through the way they affect the ensemble of the characters, emotionally and in terms of movement. The atmosphere created by the synergy of music and visual design, at times mysterious and at times polemic, aims at highlighting the work’s existential and political messages. The performance, imbued with love by its entire creative team, is delivered to the audience with the goal of inspiring them with strength and faith in a better future. Because, as the narrators in our work say, ‘the new that’s coming, is born by the pains of the old’, notes Eleni Eftymiou.

The performance features 70 members of the Rosarte children’s and youth choir, founded and run by conductor Rosie Mastrosavva. The capping stone of her career is the four gold medals she received at the three Choir Olympics she took part in (Graz 2008, Riga 2014, Tshwane South Africa 2018) as well as her being awarded by the Athens Academy for the highest contribution to Greece’s artistic firmament.

The production “A CLOUD IN LOVE” is part of the GNO Alternative Stage’s strand of programming titled “MUSIC THEATRE DAYS”, which falls under the Act “FESTIVAL EVENTS OF THE GNO ALTERNATIVE STAGE” (MIS 5004053), code 2017ΕΠΑ08510107 (Axis 06 of the O.P. “ATTICA”), and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and National Funds.