Cast
Royce Vavrek — Libretto
Mikael Karlsson — Music
Sláva Daubnerová — Stage director
Boris Kudlicka — Set designer
Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko — Costumes
Tom Visser — Lighting
Charlotta Öfverholm — Choreographer
Katarina Aronsson — Dramatist
Lauren Snouffer — Justine
Rihab Chaieb — Claire
Anne Sofie von Otter — Gaby
Jens Persson Hertzman — Michael
Ola Eliasson — John
Johan Edholm — Jack
Royal Swedish Orchestra
Program notes
Melancholia is now much more than a celebrated film by Lars von Trier, starring the dazzling Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg in the lead roles—thanks to Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, it is now also a fabulous opera! After several successful collaborations with choreographer Alexander Ekman, it is with Canadian librettist Royce Vavrek that Karlsson created this captivating contemporary masterpiece. Soprano Lauren Snouffer and mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb shine in the roles of Justine and Claire, respectively. Justine is about to get married when she witnesses the planet Melancholia leaving its orbit and and come dangerously close to Earth, an anomaly which deeply disturbs her. Claire, her sister, tries in vain to console Justine while their mother (the masterfully intense Anne-Sophie von Otter) does nothing to calm the bride-to-be. As the collision between the planets grows inevitable, will Justine manage to escape her numbness in time?
