LOD

I work with LOD to develop their International profile and touring and to broker new relationships for future collaborations.
My work is focussed on their productions Woman At Point Zero, The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa , and Moby Dick, at Last Queequeg Speaks.

Introduction

LOD muziektheater is a Ghent production company for opera and musical theatre, a creative base for performing artists.
Full information here.

Woman at Point Zero

Laila Soliman, Bushra El-Turk & Stacy Hardy

Inspired by the seminal novel by Egyptian writer and feminist Nawal El Saadawi, Woman at Point Zero is a story two women: Fatma, an activist imprisoned for manslaughter and Sama, an ambitious documentary filmmaker, that unfolds over one day.

They share their memories, & experiences and secrets - moving from distrust to curiosity and solidarity and finally friendship. From this universal story of abuse and emancipation, composer Bushra El-Turk, director Laila Soliman, writer Stacy Hardy and scenographer and film designer Bissane Al Charif create a multimedia opera.

Conducted by Kanako Abe, the music is performed on a unique mix of ancient folk instruments by musicians from all over the world, alongside the singers Dima Orsho and Carla Nahadi Babelegoto.

  • composition Bushra El-Turk direction Laila Soliman libretto Stacy Hardy text based on Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi published by Zed Books- Bloomsbury Publishing Plc scenography Bissane Al Charif video design Bissane Al Charif & Julia König director's assistant Barbara T'Jonck & Nadia Amin composer's assistant Furkan Keçeli documentary audio fragments Aida Elkashef musical direction Kanako Abe assistant musical director Ivan Cheng singers Dima Orsho & Carla Nahadi Babelegoto ensemble ZAR: Hyelim Kim (taegum), Milos Milivojevic (accordéon), Raphaela Danksagmuller (recorders, crumhorn, fujara, duduk, kaval), Chatori Shimizu (sho), Faraz Eshghi Sahraei (kamancha), Hanna Kölbel (cello) repetitor & live samples Samir Bendimered costumes Eli Verkeyn stage manager Patrick Vanderhaeghen light design Loes Schakenbos video Johannes Ringoot & Brecht Debackere light Jamy Hollebeke sound Carlo Thompson & Guillaume Desmet production manager Liesbet Termont production LOD muziektheater coproduction All Aria's festival (deSingel Antwerpen, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Concertgebouw Brugge & Transparant), Royal Opera House London, Shubbak Festival London, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Britten Pears Arts & Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg) with thanks to Kathleen Venneman & Victor Hidalgo with the support of enoa (European Network of Opera Academies), PRS Foundation, FEDORA, AFAC (The Arab Fund for Art and Culture), the British Council & the TAX Shelter Measure by the Belgian federal government.

  • Download dossier here.

Upcoming Events

Past Events

The Golden Stool, or the Story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa

George Ocloo

An AfrOpera: Who is Nana Yaa Asantewaa? Why was she important? And what is her legacy? Around 1900, she led the resistance against the troops of the British Monarch as an old woman and, together with the women’s brigade she formed, held out for a year in the war for the Golden Stool, the throne and pride of the Asante people in Ghana. The British had been slaughtering the Asante to gain access to timber, gold and cocoa for years. The industrial revolution in faraway England required resources, many resources, like a hungry beast. For Nana Yaa Asantewaa and her women, the British Monarch’s claiming of the Golden Stool was the last straw. The Golden Stool would not leave the country!

Nobulumko Mngxekeza-Nziramasanga (soprano), Nonkululeko Nkwinti (mezzo-soprano), Doris Bokongo Nkumu, Nathalie Bokongo Nkumu, Abena Biney Gloria, Titilayo Oliha, Saar-Niragire De Groof, Briana Stuart, Maïmouna Badjie and Somalia Williamson sing, act and dance the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa and her courageous struggle, to the sounds of famous arias from the classical Western opera repertoire – which Gorges Ocloo has appropriated for the occasion.

Handel, Bizet, Shostakovich, Verdi, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Orff... they all pass in revue. With this AfrOpera, Gorges Ocloo reveals his roots.

  • concept, direction, libretto, composition, set design & costumes Gorges Ocloo soprano Nobulumko Mngxekeza-Nziramasanga mezzosoprano Nonkululeko Nkwinti
    choir, dance & percussion Doris Bokongo Nkumu, Nathalie Bokongo Nkumu, Gloria Abena Biney, Titilayo Oliha, Saar-Niragire De Groof, Briana Stuart, Maïmouna Badjie & Somalia Williamson advice choir composition & choir master Joris Minten
    co-libretto & dramaturgy Josse De Pauw musical advice Katherina Lindekens assistant director Chiara Monteverde costume design Kasia Mielczarek realision set & costumes Atelier Toneelhuis light Pino Etz & Gilles Roosen sound Victor Hidaldo
    video technics Wim Piqueur video recordings Gorges Ocloo audio recordings Isa Tubbax production manager Eva De Wolf & Noor De Graaf production LOD muziektheater & Toneelhuis coproduction Opera Ballet Vlaanderen & O. Festival Rotterdam with the support of enoa & the Creative Europe Programme, the tax shelter measure by the Belgian federal government with thanks to Lukas Vanhoutte, Naomi Lampariello, Peter King, Wilhelmina Donkoh, The Queen Mother of Ejisu, The Women Commission Office of the Koforidua Technical University

  • Download dossier here.

Upcoming events

Past events

Moby Dick, at Last Queequeg Speaks

Gorges Ocloo, Dominique Pauwels & Ben Okri

A JAZZY OPERA ABOUT POWER, STATUS AND THE NEED FOR RECONCILIATION IN OUR SOCIETY.

Gorges Ocloo had for a long time wanted to create a play based on Herman Melville’s literary classic Moby Dick. When, several years ago, he saw a newspaper photo of an 11-year-old girl in her Sunday dress floating lifelessly in the azure-blue water of the Mediterranean Sea, the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. Did this girl, one of the first victims of a sunken refugee boat, know beforehand how dangerous her journey would be? Ocloo contacted the Nigerian writer Ben Okri for the adaptation of Moby Dick. He reworked Melville’s account to create a magic-realist story of the gap between power and powerlessness, high and low, rich and poor. A story set after the ship has sunk. On stage we see Josse De Pauw, soprano Nobulumko Mngxekeza-Nziramasanga and musician Toon Callier on a composition by Dominique Pauwels.

You can expect a jazzy opera, swinging and full of energy, about the need for conciliation in an increasingly polarised society.

  • concept, direction, libretto & scenography Gorges Ocloo composition Dominique Pauwels (voice soprano) Toon Callier (instumental) after the book by the same name by Herman Melville text Ben Okri libretto & dramaturgy Bart Capelle with Josse De Pauw soprano Nobulumko Mngxekeza-Nziramasanga live music Toon Callier repetitor Jan Debel scenography Giovani Vanhoenacker light Jannes Dierynck sound Brecht Beuselinck technics Johannes Ringoot, Lukas Vanhoutte (intern) costumes Freya Proost production manager Eva De Wolf & Kristel Deweerdt production LOD muziektheater coproduction C-TAKT Pelt/Genk, deSingel Antwerpen, CC De Grote Post Oostende, Kunstencentrum Vooruit Gent with the support of the TAX Shelter measure by the Belgian Federal Government

  • Download dossier here.