HOLLAND OPERA

Creative Director

Holland Opera - Joke Hoolboom

Music Composer

Projections

Choir

Orchestra

Orchestra

Jong Nederlands Blazers Ensemble

PROJECTION MAPPING ON STAGE DESIGN

Holland Opera is renowned for their unconventional opera’s. In the summer of 2018, we were honoured to collaborate with the creative team of Holland Opera in creating ‘Die Zauberflöte Requiem’ opera at the Werkspoorkathedraal in Utrecht. For this project, we worked closely with the creative director Joke Hoolboom and music composer Roel Slootman to create a dynamic performance where contemporary meets classical.

Mozart wrote both Zauberflöte and the Requiem in the last months of his short life. A tale of two worlds: the cold, black-and-white world of Queen of the Night and the colourful world of Tamino. Zauberflöte Requiem is an opera about the fear and reconciliation with death, desire for unconditional love and an ode to life.

LOCATION

Werkspoorkathedraal is a big factory in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Now a contemporary event hall and workspace for creative entrepreneurs, the Werkspoorkathedraal used to function as a reparation centre for trains and bridges. The factory was established around 1913. For many years all rail maintenance were done in the big hall, but in 1970 the Werkspoorkathedraal closed its doors to be transformed as a location to house various companies.

In 2014, the cathedral was given a new owner and the hall was transformed to be an event hall and a hub for creative businesses. The new design was made by MONK Architects, who have won the Rietveld Prize in 2017.

CREATIVE PROCESS

Holland Opera is well known for unconventional performances and this time they bring Mozart back to life, combining Zauberflöte and Requiem. Mozart wrote both opera’s in the last fase of his short but turbulent life. Two worlds combined into one captivating story: the cold, black-and-white world rule by the Queen of the Night, and the colourful world of Tamino full of love and passion for life. We were asked to collaborate with the amazing team of Holland Opera and music composer Roel Slootman to translate music into visual language and help create a unique multidisciplinary opera performance.

Our creative team started the journey by reading into the story of both Zauberflöte and Requiem, getting inspired by the vision of the genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. During brainstorm sessions between Roel Slootman and our team, accompanied by Mozart’s opera’s ,we visualised ideas and designed a visual language to magnify the life performance and immerse the audience within the story.

MORE WORK