Butterfly in Blood is the title of the innovative chamber opera by avant-garde soprano, pianist, and composer Marika Klambatsea, a box-office success in the UK, and winner of an Arts Council Award.
It is inspired by Fania Fénelon’s book Sursis pour l’orchestre (English title: Playing for Time). The concert focuses on the tragic figure of French-Jewish soprano Fania Fénelon, who was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 and deported to Auschwitz, where she was forced to become a member of the women’s orchestra.
Marika Klambatsea has not merely influenced the international music stage in free improvisation; she has had a significant impact on contemporary artistic expression, aesthetics, and the avant-garde in general.
The Holocaust and Fania Fénelon’s testimony recorded in her original book Playing for Time are the motive force behind the synthesis of music and text, brought to life by the narration and the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, Johann Strauss, Kurt Weill, and Gustav Mahler. These compositions are incorporated into the opera along with Yiddish songs—written in the concentration camps and ghettos, and collected by music researchers—and free vocal improvisations. The composer is accompanied by top soloists, while the texts come to life through the narration of well-known actress Rania Economidou.
Rania Economidou Narrator
Gennadiy Bykov violin
Florenc Sulkuqi violin
Laurentiu Matasaru viola
Eugenios Bensis cello
Organized by ANK MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT