Greenwood to mix world premier of Aniara

This summer, Devin will join two-time GRAMMY Award winning vocal ensemble The Crossing to present the world premier of the choral-theater-installation, Aniara in collaboration with Finnish theater company Klockriketeatern.

Aniara is a science fiction poem written by Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson in 1953, later adapted into an opera and now an audio/visual immersive performance centered on Guggenheim and Pew Fellow Robert Maggio’s new musical score and Dan Henriksson's libretto.

Aniara premieres in Philadelphia on June 20th

“One of the major themes explored is the nature and necessity of art, symbolized by the semi-mystical machinery of the Mima, who relieves the ennui of crew and passengers with scenes of far-off times and places, and whose operator is also the sometimes naïve main narrator. The rooms of Mima, according to Martinson, represent different kinds of life styles or forms of consciousness. The accumulated destruction the Mima witnesses impels her to destroy herself in despair. Without which, the erstwhile colonists seek distraction in sensual orgies, memories of their own and earlier lives, low comedy, religious cults, observations of strange astronomical phenomena, empty entertainments, science, routine tasks, brutal totalitarianism, and in all kinds of human endeavor, but ultimately cannot face the emptiness outside and inside.” [from Wikipedia]

Aniara will premiere at Christ Church Neighborhood House, Philadelphia June 20-23, Haarlem Choral Biennale, The Netherlands July 3-4 and The Finnish National Opera, Helsinki Sept 17-21.