Tristan & Izolde by Izadora Weiss is a Celtic legend set by the Baltic Sea. The opera production with music by Krzysztof Penderecki closed the 2015/16 artistic season of The Baltic Opera in Gdańsk. Its premiere took place on 24th June 2016.
‘It’s like translating poetry’, says the choreographer,
Izadora Weiss, who incorporated the classic story by Joseph Bedier into the world of dance theatre. The plot is just a pretext for a conversation about emotions. Weiss does not illustrate the opera version of Wagner by dance, but creates her own vision of unfortunate love, using chosen compositions of
Krzysztof Penderecki joined with Jonny Greenwood’s contemporary variations based on the motifs of the great Polish master’s music. The album they recorded together was a sensation in the musical world. Weiss created a new entity out of the soundtrack she melded, adapting it to the tragic story of two lovers. As the director further explained:
We are translating literature into the world of dance. It is obvious that some aspects will get simplified, while others will be enriched. The story of Tristan and Izolde is a grand story about love that is impossible, forbidden, and thus tragic, despite the huge happiness it temporarily brings.
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Weiss emphasises that music has always been the most crucial element of her works. Each choreography she creates confirms that the artist is well suited to interpreting huge classics, starting from Shakespeare, and ending with Elfriede Jelinek.
Marzena Bakowska reviewed the show for Radio Gdańsk:
Izadora Weiss consequently carries out her plan – she wants to show beautiful stories, despite common opinion that in art ugliness is more interesting than harmony and balanced images. This is also true in the case of Tristan & Izolde, whose main message is delightful, passionate love. The movement – dynamic, full of emotion, characteristic for the choreographer – is joined with excellently chosen music. Weiss successfully uses Krzysztof Penderecki’s compositions once again (in 1998, the Polish composer’s music was employed in her show at Wielki Theatre in Poznań).
Tristan & Izolde premiered on 24th June 2016 in The Baltic Dance Theatre in Gdańsk.
sources: Radio Gdańsk, press materials, written by AL, translated by NS July 2016