VIP AUDIENCE
Performed for a specially invited audience that included the Ambassadors
of Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as
representatives of the Ministry of Culture of Poland and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
The cast:
Daniel Blumenthal, piano
Biljana
Staffansson, soprano
Ljiljana
Jovanovic, soprano
Cecilia Jorgensen, narrator
Act 1: Coup-de-foudre - Mrs Grote's home, London, 2 May 1848
Act 2: Magnolia - Clairville Cottage, Brompton, 12 May 1848
Act 3: In doubt - Calder House, Edinburgh, 30 October 1848
Act 4: Hope - Rue de Chaillot 74, Paris, early June 1849
Act 5:
Death - Place Vendôme 12, Paris, before 17 October 1849
Act 6:
Love - Buckingham Palace, London, 30 May 1856
With thanks to our sponsors:
The drama
Emperor: Fryderyk Chopin, composer
Nightingale: Jenny Lind, soprano
Artificial bird: Pauline Viardot, mezzo soprano
Storyteller: Hans Christian Andersen
Playwrights: Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen
Musical advisor: Daniel Blumenthal
Producer: Icons of Europe
Piano: Steinway
Based on the historically correct information of the new biography, Chopin and Jenny Lind's encounters are seen as a
real-life replay of Hans Christian Andersen's story The Nightingale. He
wrote this story in 1843 as a tribute to Jenny Lind - the woman he loved, but never could
get.
The narrator introduces each act with original quotes from letters
Chopin wrote in 1848-1849 to family and friends and from the Nightingale story. These quotes, presented in
English and Polish, match each other to a surprising and moving degree. Each act is
also embellished by the display of a large image. The whole concept is flexible
(i.e. music programme, multimedia, audience size, languages and timing, as well as the
opportunity to support a humanitarian cause).
"The seamlessness of great European
culture"
The drama and the music as well as the actors refer to a large number of
countries: Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland,
Russia, Serbia, Spain and Sweden, as well as Canada, China, Japan and the United States.
Copyright © 2003 Icons of Europe, B-1380
Lasne
Deposited with the U.S. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. |
"Chopin
and The Nightingale" replays the actual musical encounters of Chopin
and Jenny Lind in the context of The Nightingale story of Hans Christian
Andersen.
