La Fura dels Baus prepares its own version of Symphony No. 6, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and also known as the Pastoral Symphony. Completed in 1808, it is one of Beethoven’s few programmatic music works, and the composer subtitled it with Recollections of Country Life. Now the director Carlus Padrissa reinvents the piece under the name of Pastoral for The Planet and mixes it with other compositions by Reicha, Weber, Rietz F. and Mendessohn. Last January, in order to forge the nth furan opera and rehearse the show, his team has been installed in Montmeló (Barcelona).
Padrissa proposes an immersive meditation on the relationship between nature and the human being that raises the possibility of living without consumption. Although the proposal raises the current point of rupture of the harmony and ecological resistance of the planet (dramatic and real), the work may have an unexpected turn that is decided by the same public using the immersive application Kalliope (developed by the Èpcia Foundation from La Fura).
Thus, Pastoral for the Planet, which has the illustrations and scenery of Mihael Milunovic and the creativity of Eyesberg, turns towards the utopian ideal and – possibly at the same time – of a global village, distributing the communities and living on the resources of Nature: the deep ecological model defended by futuristic industrial designer Jacque Fresco. A pioneer in human factors engineering, Fresco ranged from biomedical innovations to fully integrated social systems and, through The Venus Project, defended sustainable cities, energy efficiency, natural resource management and advanced automation and the corresponding benefits that this would bring to society. La Fura dels Baus does not reinterpret the world: it awakens consciousness through a virtual world that will be projected to reality in 360 degrees.
The show will feature soprano Sophie Karthaüser and the musical interpretation of the Insula Orchestra, directed by Laurence Equilbey (who also directs the musical dramaturgy of the piece). It will premiere on February 21st and 23rd at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence, and on February 26th and 27th it will be presented at the Auditorium La Seine Musicale in Paris. Later, in June, the opera directed by Carlus Padrissa will travel to the Dortmund Konzerthaus in Germany (June 5th).
Pastoral for The Planet is a co-production of La Fura dels Baus, Erda Éducation Reserche Dévelopement Artistique and Le Grand Théâtre de Provence
