Mengelberg, who turns eighty this year, is suffering from dementia and by now doesn’t compose anymore. Whether he never completed the work out of purely practical considerations will probably always remain a mystery. The fact is that out of Mengelberg’s lyrics and music, thanks to the efforts of Duyns, Janssen and the ICP Orchestra, a new genre has been created: the opera misha.
Cherry Duyns has compressed the multitude of ideas and fragments from the cow libretto into a comic as well as melancholy story. Browsing through Mengelberg’s rich musical oeuvre, Guus Janssen then found the notes to carry those lyrics. Thus, Cows became a unique collage from the legacy of an artist: the great opera that Misha Mengelberg never wrote.
Music and lyrics: Misha Mengelberg
Direction, scenery and assembly of the libretto: Cherry Duyns
Assembly of the composition: Guus Janssen
Movement consultant: Beppie Blankert
Costumes: Carin Eilers
Hair and make-up: Nienke Algra
Graphics: Han Bennink
Projection: Willem van den Berg
Light: Casper Leemhuis
Sound: Clare Gallagher
Co-production Stichting Enveloppe and Holland Festival
Premiere June 9 2015, Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, Rabozaal. 8 pm.
Second performance: June 10 2015, Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, Rabozaal. 8 pm.
Introduction June 9 and 10, 7.15 pm., by Koen Schouten.
On June 10 following the performance: Meet the Artist with Cherry Duyns and Guus Janssen.
Composers in the crosshairs of our attention