The next event within the Strada Stretta Concept artistic programme, a project which is under the auspices of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, is Carmen bla Vuċi (Voicless Carmen), an adaptation of the operatic rendition of Bizet's Carmen performed last November at Splendid in Strait Street. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci's new production and revised direction will be challenging this previous version by removing an essential part of the original masterpiece; the voices of the opera singers. Theatrics will be reduced to one form with the musicians occupying the entire narrative; no emphatic gestures, sung words, costumes or scenery.
Schembri Bonaci's peculiarity is that he deeply believes in contradicting his own approaches so as to create a dialectical ambiance for further thought and creativity. He does this in his capacity as artistic director of the Strada Stretta Concept and the APS Mdina Biennale, and in his academic work on Maltese modern and contemporary art.
On Wednesday 21 June, the audience will see, or rather 'hear', into an opera without voices. With the enthusiastic support of the French Embassy in Malta, whose personnel raised their eyebrows at such a proposal, and with the consistent cooperation of Strait Street's artistic venue Splendid managed by the incomparable Jason Masini, the public will be able to experience another unconventional event that will deconstruct a universally-loved classic.
Schembri Bonaci's 'traditional' love for Street Theatre/Cabaret, which he approaches with the influence of Brechtian-Meyerholdian theatre philosophies, has radically developed since his early għana productions adapting the classics in the early 90s and his exciting relationship with the Dario Fo/Franca Rame commedia dell'arte troupe based in Milan. His theatre productions combine the classics with folk and popular forms that are rooted in tradition, imparting an authentic local significance onto international pieces. These projects integrating tradition and diverse spheres of art create an ambience that offers food for thought not only for the audience present but also for academics interested in how certain theoretical developments are being ushered into the Maltese scene.
Each production, according to Schembri Bonaci, is an esquisse, a chance to revise and adapt the original, but also to create something entirely new in rough form, a study that though a whole in itself is a step towards the next.
Pianist Emel Hasanoglu tells me that the previous Carmen was a special adaptation which also included an għana (troubadour) intervention "which fitted well with the whole operatic structure. Street Theatre principles determined the whole idea." Thanks to Gjorgji Cincievski, who also was a participant in other Strada Stretta Concept events, arranged the musical score to fit in with Schembri Bonaci's theatrical philosophy. Clare Ghigo, Charles Vincenti, Ken Scicluna and Louis Cassar's excellent voices were accompanied by a group of professional international musicians and għannejja. Together, all succeeded in "offering a radically different rendition of Carmen, one might say an anti-theatre Carmen."
Carmen bla Vuċi tasks to tackle the voice-instrument relationship, replacing voices with particular instruments without falling into the trap of creating a concert version of the opera.
The exploration of such contradictions implicit in a production as resonant as Carmen serves to enhance the raison d'être of the Strada Stretta Concept as an unconventional and exegetical research project into the theoretical and practical basis of all art forms.
Hasanoglu has worked on both events and will seemingly continue to redefine Carmen's performative malleability: "After the success of November's Carmen, the Strada Stretta Concept decided to create regular but different adaptations of this wonderful opera. All this under Schembri Bonaci's direction, who keeps on striving to create and provoke an out-of-the-box approach. His team took on another challenge. In this particular production, the artistic director wanted to negate the very idea of opera without losing its essence, without changing operatic elements of opera. This sounds like contradiction, a beautiful and challenging impossibility. How can one produce an opera and delete its main component?"
What will be explored in this production, Emel recounts, is the theme of Carmen's seductive femme fatale character, which acts, according to this version, as a façade. Maybe she is not as strong-willed as she makes herself out to be; "Carmen is caught between two sides of a horrible tragedy. She feels she is losing her much fought-for independence and freedom for to be with her only real love. Knowing herself, she enacts a Greek tragedy. She gives up Don Jose for her own sake. This is why she goes for Escamillo."
Highly talented musicians trained in traditional academies who frequently perform in regular theatres have openly taken on such challenges and used them to complement their professional practice. These will be accompanied by a troupe of Maltese troubadours.
Hasanoglu is a graduate of Belgrade University who has been awarded a string of international prizes. She is now participating in the musical programme of the Strada Stretta Concept and has adapted the music of Bizet's Carmen to both Strada Stretta productions. Her repertoire consists of Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schuman, Bartok, Ligeti.
The violinists are Reggie Clews, Inga Marcel, and Matteo Colombo, accompanied by oboist Chiara Colombo. Clews currently holds the position of Assistant Concertmaster in the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied at McGill University in Canada and has worked for the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Chamber Orchestra and San Diego Opera, amongst others. Inga Marcel is a professional violinist, living and performing in Malta and throughout the EU. She has played in orchestras in Lithuania, Germany, the Baltic States and Malta.
Matteo Colombo graduated with distinction from the "G. Verdi" Conservatory in Como, Italy and has played in the "Quartetto Classico di Milano" together with a number of long-standing members of Milan's Teatro alla Scala since 2008. Chiara Colombo graduated in oboe with distinction at "A.Boito" conservatory in Parma and was Principal oboe of "Orchestra 1813" at Teatro Sociale di Como. Since 2014 she has been second oboe and english horn with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.
The participating troubadours are the għannejja, Mikiel Cumbo (l-iżgej), Anġlu Theuma (il-kina), Jo-Mike Agius (ta' seba' rġiel) accompanied by guitarists Johnny Saliba (ta' Birżebbuġa), Joe Bonello (skuti), and Frans Casha (ta' saqajn).
Schembri Bonaci, Hasanoglu, and the rest of the Strada Stretta Concept team are currently working on an adaptation of another classic opera which will be performed this coming November.
Carmen bla Vuċi (Voicless Carmen) will take place on Wednesday, 21 June at Splendid, Strait Street at 8pm. The production forms part of the annual Fête de la Musique. It is being organised by the Strada Stretta Concept, under the auspices of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, in collaboration with the Embassy of France in Malta