New roles for experienced voice actors

Harvest poses an important question: why are there so few leading roles for singers of later age in the traditional opera repertoire? And why are the differences between voice types so great in this regard? Experienced voices often fade into the background, even though they bring an enormous wealth of experience and expression.

Two exceptional singers, Claron McFadden and Andrew Watts, perform monodramas written especially for them together with pianist Miles Walter. Not supporting roles, but characters with depth, power, and personality.

For Harvest, Cora Burggraaf invited various composers to write new works in close collaboration with the singers. Their voice, character, and stage of life formed the starting point. Many conversations followed, resulting in short, powerful monodramas, each with its own musical world.

Harvest is more than a concert. Interspersed between the monodramas, we see film portraits and interview excerpts by filmmaker Bowie Verschuuren. Not only the artist, but also the human being comes into view. They talk about their experience and baggage, about what growing older has brought them. In a society where aging is sometimes synonymous with becoming less visible, Harvest shows how much power and value experience has.

credits

Cora Burggraaf concept | Claron McFadden acting | Andrew Watts acting | Mies Walter piano | Calliope Tsoupaki music | Annelies van Parys music | Yumi Augustine music | Tymon Zgorzelski music | Rob Zuidam music | Prach Boondiskulchok music | Yating Wang music | Gaea Schoeters libretti | Peter Handke libretti | Maria Barnas libretti | Molly Pepper Steemson libretti | Arjun Devanesan libretti | Ira Judkovskaja/Cora Burggraaf libretti