Maurice Ravel’s evening of short arrangements
Premiere at the Estonian National Opera on March 26, 2021
“The Child and the Spells”
Fantaisie lyrique in one act by Maurice Ravel
Libretto by Colette
World premiere on March 21, 1925 in Monte Carlo
Conductors: Arvo Volmer, Kaspar Mänd
Stage Director: Mart Kampus
Choreographer: Renate Keerd
Set and Costume Designer: Liina Keevallik
Who hasn’t quarrelled with an armchair? Or with a stubborn grandfather clock? We have all loved princesses and torn them apart just to see what is inside. Did the porcelain cup just break out of its own will? How very frustrating!
Besides, what is inside the wallpaper that so invitingly peels off the wall?
Speaking squirrels, sleeping beauties, frogs as chorus singers, scary numbers, tiptoeing curtains, teacups as tourists and screaming flames – what an amazing blend of dreamy revelations and pieces of real life, opera and ballet as well as stage lights and behind the stage sounds.
What about the Mother Goose? Will she manage to squeeze herself on stage or into your dream?
“Mother Goose”
Conductors: Arvo Volmer, Kaspar Mänd
Stage Director, Choreographer and Designer: Renate Keerd
Designer: Liina Keevallik
“Mother Goose” is a free interpretation of Maurice Ravel’s ballet by a free-lance stage director and choreographer Renate Keerd. According to a French custom, a mother goose is a nickname for a nurse, who tells children fairy-tales. Keerd takes the classical libretto and turns it upside down. Her original story is based on Ravel’s orchestrated version of the piece. In her staging, Keerd concentrates on paradoxes of our lives, mixing it with her fantastic, absurd and witty style.
“Ravel:Ravel” is a game where you can cheat for beauty and where Ravel’s love affair with music ends up in a crazy whirlwind of spectacle, dreamt of by children and yearned for by grown-ups.