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Annex 2
THE ARCHITECTURE OF SILENCE
Synopsis
The 2006 premiere of The Architecture of Silence, choreographed by Edward Clug brought
together for the first time in history the Slovene National Opera and two Ballet houses: SNG
Maribor and SNG Ljubljana. For the Singapore performance, 45 ballet dancers and 80 singers
from Slovenia are accompanied by a 66-member Singapore Festival Orchestra.
Clug brilliantly weds the 200 year gap between two seemingly incompatible works of music:
Requiem by Mozart and Requiem for My Friend by Zbigniew Preisner, a contemporary Polish
composer best-known for his film score for the late director, Krzysztof Kieslowski, to whom the
requiem is dedicated.
Clug explained, “I like to believe that the composer is some kind of an architect of silence
building through each note the music of eternity. I experience movement as a visual elongation
of the music. Yet, at the same time, I feel also the opposite. For me, music may well be also an
elongation of the visual. Through certain situations where one is supported by the other, I strive
to create a silent dialogue between the music and the dancing.”
In a rich mosaic of dance and music, the choreographer arranges images and forms from
universal and timeless iconography inspired by the motion of fish that move silently but
powerfully. A flock of black-sheathed ‘swimmers’ cuts through air onstage in virtual pools of
water in a sea of bodies and limbs. The ‘swimmers’, an allegory to the symbol of fish which
represents for Clug, an elemental manifestation of silence – not one of emptiness but of a
distinctly present existence.
With a minimalist yet imaginative set and costumes, alongside video elements that unveil
revelations, Clug paints a potent yet fragile tapestry of life and death.
Beginning with Mozart’s Lacrimosa and ending with Preisner’s Lacrimosa that frame the rituals
of baptism, purification and transcendence, Clug’s precise, complex and narrative expression of
motion mingles with the majestic music into an ode to life that fully embraces the multiplicity of
human sentiments.
“Do we live after death? Is our soul mortal as well? Will we find another time and place
beyond? Do we believe in life after death? These are questions as old as the world itself. We
depart and stay on at the same time. We remain present in the memories of the people we
‘touched’; we stay and live in our works, traces of different kinds. We can perceive the requiem
as an ode to life, as an ode to our ‘legacy’, to the traces we leave in this time and space to
those, who stay and those who will come.”
There were thoughts and questions occupying Edward Clug when creating The Architecture of
Silence.
Edward Clug
Choreographer and dancer Edward Clug, born in Romania in 1973, attended the National
School of Ballet in the city of Cluj. Since 1991, he has been a solo dancer at the Slovene
National Theatre in Maribor-Slovenia, where he now also leads the ballet ensemble.
Parallel to his successful career as a principal dancer, Clug started choreographing in 1998 and
his original works have since won international accolades in Bulgaria, Moscow, Japan, and
Germany. He has bagged numerous national awards in Slovenia, amongst which in 2005, he
was awarded the prestigious Slovene national Prešeren Fund Award for his exceptional artistic
achievements.
He is currently working on new productions for the Stuttgart Ballet and the National Ballet of
Lisbon.
The Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Maribor
The Slovene National Theatre Maribor is the biggest public cultural institution in Slovenia. It is
the only Slovene theatre house that combines drama, music and dance under one roof, with
over 300 permanent and 150 temporary staff, overlooking the artistic and technical operations.
It organises the annual festival of Slovene theatres convention – the Borstnik meeting – and the
competition of young sining talents – the Ondina Otta.
In 1919, a permanent professional theatre was founded in Maribor, with drama and opera
sharing the same stage. The first opera was staged on 4th January 1921 and was followed by
numerous operas and operettas all through the seasons up to 1928. The first director of the
Opera after the war was Anton Neffat followed by Demetrij Žebre, Ciril Cvetko, Jakov Cipci,
Vladimir Kobler, Boris Švara and Stane Jurgec.
Since the first ballet production by Marta Remškar in 1947, the resident choreographers and
artistic directors have included Golovin, Maks, Irena Kirbos, Radomir Miloševic, Jelka Ivelja,
Henrik Neubauer, Iko Otrin, Marin Turcu and Edward Clug.
Maribor Opera and Ballet has continuously worked in combining the traditional and
contemporary, positioning itself most strongly in contemporary dance. In the last two years,
over 30 guest performances have been invited to 13 countries.
The Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
In 2002, the ensemble of the Slovene National Theatre SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
celebrated 110 years of their artistic creativity in the beautiful neo-renaissance theatre in the
centre of Ljubljana.
From 1908, when the Slovene Philharmonic was founded, all opera performances were
accompanied by their orchestra. In 1918, the Opera formed their own orchestra, which was
enlarged in 1925 by many young Slovene singers. In the period between the Wars, the opera
repertoire was modernized and a number of successful Slovenian operas were performed.
After World War II, the Opera ensemble achieved success when one of its biggest, with their
international tour in the Netherlands and with their performance at the Paris Opera.
The professional ballet ensemble was founded in Ljubljana in 1918. In the first years of its
existence, the ensemble presented some famous ballet works and then enriched its repertoire
with Slovenian innovation. Young dancers have been educated mostly within the theatre itself,
almost without interruption until 1948 when the Ballet School took over the task.
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Today, the main Slovene theatre offering musical repertoire takes pride in offering a vast
repertoire of opera, ballet and concert. In each season, about 150 performances are played
within its home theatre hall, or are on tour in Slovenia and abroad.
Singapore Festival Orchestra
The Singapore Festival Orchestra (SFO), led by Maestro Chan Tze Law was inaugurated at the
2007 Singapore Arts Festival, serving as the resident orchestra of the Festival. Inspired by the
success of the Competition Orchestra which won praises from the international jury at the 2005
National Piano and Violin Competition. SFO made its debut at the Festival with sold-out
performances of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony. Noted critically for its technical prowess, the
SFO also accompanied young classical music soloists who shone in their Festival debuts in
Festival Fantasia and at the National Piano and Violin Competition 2007.
Comprising both seasoned professionals and professionally trained freelance musicians, the
SFO aims to bring together traditional classics with new and innovative expressions of
orchestral performance, contributing to the diversity and enrichment of the Festival’s music
programme. SFO also aims to provide professional performance opportunities in promoting
music-making of the highest quality among new generations of musicians in Singapore. SFO
graces this year’s Singapore Arts Festival with The Architecture of Silence, The Lord of the
Rings Symphony and Festival Fantasia 2008.
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