MITRA HOLLAND FESTIVAL MITRA Jorge León Eva Reiter George Van Dam Claron McFadden thanks to production partner patron CONTENT Info & context Credits About Mitra About the artist Friends Holland Festival 2019 Join us Colophon INFO CONTEXT date & time introduction Tue 11 June 2019, 8.30 pm by René van Peer 7.45 pm venue Muziekgebouw running time 1 hour 15 minutes no interval language English and French with English and Dutch surtitles CREDITS concept, direction sound Jorge León Alexandre Fostier composition Eva Reiter pre-recorded music | performed by Ictus Ensemble composition choir Michael Schmid (flute) George van Dam Gerrit Nulens (percussion) George van Dam (violin) musical supervision Eva Reiter (Paetzold recorder & bass violin) Georges-Elie Octors choir dramaturgy Choral Academy De Munt/La Monnaie Isabelle Dumont Hanna Al Bender, Gwendoline Blondeel, Raphaële Green, Logan Lopez Gonzalez, scenography Pierre Derhet, Kamil Ben Hsain Lachiri Thibault Van Craenenbroeck choir coach costumes Polina Bogdanova Silvia Hasenclever thanks to voice Aurélie Deloche, Julie Chenot, Fabienne Mitra Kadivar, Jacques-Alin Miller Moris, Jean-Pierre Rehm, Bernard Foccroulle, Paul Aron, Julien Englebert, singer Amélie Derlon Cordina, Anne-Lise Gobin Claron McFadden production performer Muziektheater Transparant, Ictus Simone Aughterlony coproduction image Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Les Halles de Jorge León, Aliocha Van der Avoort and Schaerbeek, Théâtre de Liège (in the Thomas Schira context of IMPACT), De Munt/La Monnaie, Present Perfect vzw, The GMEM Marseille, child Actoral Marseille, Les films de Force Laurenz Schäfer Majeure light design Peter Quasters with support from Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles, International Film Festival Marseille FID, Camargo Foundation, IRCAM, CNC DICRéAM, Thank you & Good Night Production, Interreg V Euregio Meuse Rhin & Wallonia, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, ONDA world premiere 9 May 2018 Brussels websites Muziektheater Transparant Ictus ABOUT MITRA by Jorge León The starting point Mitra came about as a result of a discovery on the internet: the publication of the email correspondence between the Iranian psy- chiatrist and psychoanalyst Mitra Kadivar and the French, interna- tionally renowned psychoanalyst Jacques-Alain Miller, former chairman of the World Association of Psychoanalysis, son-in-law of the renowned psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and the responsi- ble publisher of his work. In my view, the emails that travelled back and forth between Paris and Tehran in 2012 raise important social and ethical issues. They deal with the well-being of a woman who ends up entangled in a medical and legal web, from which she is unable to escape. In my interpretation of these exchanges, I endeavour to grasp the essence of the social and political challenges that can be dedu- ced from the story and to shed light on their ethical and mythical aspects. To that end, I came up with the idea of turning the emails into an opera libretto, which I wrote with dramaturge Isabelle Dumont. Eva Reiter and George van Dam are the composers of the music. In the light of two writing residencies at the Fondation Camargo de Cassis (partner in the project), we were able to visit the Centre Hospitalier Montperrin in Aix-en-Provence. This special psychiatric institution has a clear link with the story of Mitra. Above all, the meetings with the residents at the centre were so intense that it became unthinkable to separate the opera from the creative process. That’s why it was also necessary to have several forms and a combination of approaches, in order to address the current reality of psychological suffering and confinement as faithful- ly as possible. Because how do things stand with psychiatry in the West? The project aims to draw attention to our psychiatric institutions and to enable us to make contact with those who – for various reasons – are temporarily or permanently labelled ‘abnormal’ and are rejected by a society that struggles to offer a suitable response to people’s psychological suffering. The story Mitra Kadivar is an Iranian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who set up a school for psychoanalysis in Tehran after completing her education in France. She also wanted to convert her own home into a shelter for drug addicts. Her neighbours objected to this and complained to the official authorities. They even declared her mad, referring to her strange behaviour and her ceaseless irri- tation with a noisy child who walked around in the flat above hers. According to the neighbours, this child was imaginary and Mitra was psychotic. During her confinement, she is injected with me- dication. The emails she sends to Jacques-Alain Miller reveal the psychoanalyst’s anxieties, after which he attempts to help Mitra from France. When the Iranian psychiatrists deny her access to the internet, she depends on her students to maintain contact with Miller. They keep him informed about Mitra’s situation and tell him how she wants to prove her innocence. A petition to release Mitra is launched in France. The form – a story consisting of emails – really appealed to me. The 160 messages that were sent over the course of two months are characterised by a certain timeliness and a very tangible action. At the same time, the virtual dimension of the electronic exchanges gives the work an intangible form that lends itself brilliantly to a musical rendition. This dimension goes beyond the geographical location and distance and holds a unique, non-spa- tial and direct relationship with the space and time, which enables the true story to be turned into a special artistic work: a documen- tary opera film. I don’t only want to tell the story of Mitra, I also want to expose how artists work. During the workshops in the Centre Montperrin, I wanted to bring the residents (and their carers) into contact with the play about Mitra. I want to capture their reactions as images, trigger emotions when they hear Mitra’s cries of distress, which have been translated into music. The workshop participants are psychologically very vulnerable. Most of them are patients suffe- ring from psychosis and they are medically supported around the clock. The workshops gave them the opportunity to dive into their own emotions. The staging Two screens measuring approximately 8 metres wide and 4.5 metres high form a corner between which the audience will enter the room. The floor is covered with rugs that evoke the aesthetics of Persian rugs. To form a parallel with the exchange between two psychoanalysts, two composers, a woman and a man, take on the tone of the libretto, supported by the email correspondence. Eva Reiter and George van Dam, both members of Ictus and passio- nate composers, caught my eye for this. Eva Reiter wrote the part for the instrumentalists and George van Dam wrote the part for the choir. These two artistic ‘voices’ are designed to enter into a dialogue with each other and intertwine. We chose Claron McFadden to provide an operatic voice for Mitra Kadivar. This world-class singer is not only familiar with the ope- ratic repertoire as well as contemporary music, she is also open to new vocal experiences. Mitra also had to take on a physical shape for the audience. For that reason, Claron will appear on stage and perform an aria lasting a number of minutes. Her short intervention is designed to have the effect of an hallucination on the audience. ABOUT THE ARTISTS which premiered in May 2018 during the Kunstenfestivaldesarts. The script of his documentary film Mitra was awarded a prize by FIDLAB Marseille. Mitra was also one of the winners of the 2018 Music Theatre NOW competition. Director Jorge León studied film at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle (INSAS) in Brussels, where he soon became interested in the practice of documentary-making. He has cros- sed paths with many performing artists, including Olga De Soto, Meg Stuart, Benoît Lachambre and Simone Aughterlony, Born in Vienna, Eva Reiter studied re- leading to numerous joint artistic pro- corder and viola da gamba, first at the jects. His most recent productions, the University of Music and Performing Arts in films Before we go (2014), Vous êtes ser- Vienna and later under Paul Leenhouts, vis (2009) and 10 min. (2009) have been Walter van Hauwe and Mieneke van der widely screened on the international fes- Velden at the Sweelinck Conservatorium tival circuit and have garnered numerous in Amsterdam. In 2006 she earned her awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize, pre- Master’s degrees in both instruments with sented by a jury of international film honours. Reiter plays regularly as a soloist journalists at IFFR in Rotterdam in 2015, and regular member of various early and the SACD/SCAM Prize for best docu- music groups and orchestras including the mentary. Parallel to the screening of Vous Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Ensemble êtes servis at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts Mikado and Le Badinage. In recent years in Brussels León presented Deserve, a play Reiter has focused more on contemporary created together with Simone Aughterlony. music both as composer and performer, They continued their collaboration working with ensembles such as Ictus, with the production UNI*FORM (2015, Klangforum Wien, Trio Elastic3 and Duo Theater Spektakel, Zürich) and Mitra, Band. Composers she has worked with in that context include Fausto Romitelli, nent composers including Thomas Adès, Paolo Pachini, Burkhard Friedrich, Jorge Georges Aperghis, George Benjamin, Sánchez-Chiong and Raphaël Cendo. Peter Eötvos, Karel Goeyvaerts, Jonathan She has received a number of awards, Harvey, Maurizio Kagel, György Kurtàg, such as the SKE Publicity Prize in 2006, György Ligeti, Steve Reich and Karlheinz grants from the City of Vienna (2008) Stockhausen. He works as a soloist and a and the Queen Marie José International member of several contemporary groups Composition Prize (2008). Her work has including Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik been performed at international festivals and the Brussels ensemble Ictus, of which including Transit in Leuven, Ars Musica he is one of the founding members.