{"id":5667,"date":"2017-11-28T14:52:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T12:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=5667"},"modified":"2017-11-28T14:52:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T12:52:26","slug":"the-met-live-in-hd-2017-18-continues-at-ster-kinekor-cinema-nouveau-with-the-exterminating-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2017\/11\/28\/the-met-live-in-hd-2017-18-continues-at-ster-kinekor-cinema-nouveau-with-the-exterminating-angel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Met: Live In HD 2017-18 Continues At Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau With The Exterminating Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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STER-KINEKOR CINEMA NOUVEAU BRINGS OPERA TO LIFE THIS DECEMBER
\nThe Exterminating Angel screening from 16 December 2017
\nOpera in three acts
\nThe 7th Metropolitan Opera performance of Thomas Ad\u00e8s\u2019s<\/p>\n

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Following the rapturous response to his last opera, The Tempest, the Met presents the American premiere of Thomas Ad\u00e8s\u2019s: The Exterminating Angel; inspired by the classic Luis Bu\u00f1uel film of the same name. This is another exclusive screening brought to you by Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau.<\/p>\n

Hailed by the New York Times at its 2016 Salzburg Festival premiere as \u201cinventive and audacious\u2026 a major event,\u201d The Exterminating Angel is a surreal fantasy about a dinner party from which the guests can\u2019t escape. Luis Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s classic 1962 film El \u00c1ngel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel), which inspired Thomas Ad\u00e8s and librettist Tom Cairns\u2019s opera, has an unusual premise: A sophisticated group of people at a dinner party find that, for reasons that are never explained or even deeply questioned, they cannot leave the room they are in. Over an indeterminate period of time, their basest instincts emerge, and even when the survivors manage to escape, they find that they may be trapped again elsewhere. The film defies attempts at systematic analysis and even seems to denounce the need for answers as one of society\u2019s many pathologies. The idea of using a film as a source for an opera is not shocking itself, but adapting one that has baffled and fascinated both audiences and critics is an extraordinary task. Admittedly, there are obvious ways in which El \u00c1ngel Exterminador commends itself to the opera house: There are operatic references in the story, and a formal dinner party is itself a form of theatre\u2014one in which there is an acknowledged gulf between what people say and what they actually mean. Still, the strange conceit of this particular film presents great challenges\u2014namely, the unanswered question of why this is all happening.<\/p>\n

The Setting<\/strong><\/p>\n

The opera is set in and around a mansion in a large city suggestive of\u2014but not definitively stated to be\u2014Mexico City, during the 1960s.<\/p>\n

The Music<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ad\u00e8s\u2019s score examines through music, the ideas Bu\u00f1uel explored with dialogue and visuals alone. (In fact, the film itself has almost no musical underscoring). As the story moves from the comfortably elegant to the disturbingly surreal, pleasant party music evolves into a more unusual ambience, but the familiar and the puzzling are always present in various configurations. Despite the ensemble nature of the work\u2014more than a dozen singers appear onstage together throughout most of the evening\u2014a unique musical personality differentiates each character. The layering of individual voices is one of the fascinations of the score, culminating in such ensemble pieces as a chorus that depicts a sudden retreat into group obsessive compulsive disorder.<\/p>\n

Watch the trailer of The Exterminating Angel and access more information here: www.metopera.org\/Season\/2017-18-Season\/exterminating-angel-ades-tickets\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The Exterminating Angel will be screened on 16, 17, 19, 26 and 27 December 2017.<\/p>\n

The film will show at Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor sites: Rosebank Nouveau, Brooklyn Nouveau and V&A Waterfront Nouveau. At Somerset and Blue Route Mall in Cape Town and Bedford Square in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

Season at a Glance: The Met: Live in HD 2017-18<\/p>\n