Projects
LISAS LAND DES LÄCHELNS
By the invitation of the Neuköllner Oper, Abigél Varga (music) and Elisabeth Pape (text) looked at Lehár's world-famous operetta about the encounter between two cultures from two worlds in terms of its contemporary relevance and brought the original plot into today's polyglot Berlin. The young author and Kleist Prize winner Elisabeth Pape lovingly slims down the original to a quartet of young people who are looking for love and an idea of themselves. The Hungarian composer Abigél Varga undertakes a special work: she comments with her own artistry on Lehár's original arias, duets and orchestral compositions and rearranges them for a colorful and multifaceted ensemble, in which the Guzheng, the Chinese vaulted zither, cannot be missing.
WE DRAW STRENGTH FROM OUR ROOTS
Flutist Rebeka Pethő and composer Abigél Varga have collaborated on several occasions in joint artistic and musical productions. The inspiring effect of their collaboration gave rise to the idea for the concert program Gyökereinkből táplálkozunk (We Draw Strength from Our Roots), which aims to popularize Hungarian folk music and culture among today's audience in the form of contemporary classical music. Pianist Henrik Szőcs and violinist Gábor Németh joined them in realizing their vision. The pieces performed at the concert are folk song arrangements in unusual formations, as well as new works with folk music references.
The program features folk songs from the Székely Land performed in a classical setting, in a concert hall context. The compositions performed are all pieces that draw on folk music, but at the same time contain new ideas and special formal and technical elements.
EMBRACE
The main theme of this piece is the inner development of a person. The psychologist Carl Gustav Jung writes that every individual has a shadow side that they cannot accept or try to hide. Based on his theory, this piece describes the complex relationship between the individual and the shadow in a person. There are three projections that play an important role in shedding different light on this relationship. They represent the three emotions of the individual – the Cheerful, the Modest and the Passionate - and accompany her like guardian spirits. Sometimes they are playmates of the individual, but at other times they rebel against the shadow.
The work is divided into 10 parts with the following titles:
1. Cradle - 2. Playground - 3. Church - 4. Alley - 5. Blooming - 6. Ritual - 7. Forest - 8. Dream - 9. Outside - 10. Meetings
This inner journey gives a picture of how our emotional scale develops from childhood to adulthood, and how our environment can affect our personality.
SWINGS
After they met, actresses Krisztina Irma Tarjányi and Enikő Molnár came up with the idea of performing János Lackfi's two-person play Hinták (Swings), which they both really liked. A young contemporary composer, Abigél Varga, a young Transylvanian graphic artist Mariann Ilyés, and a cellist and flutist joined them, giving an important role to classical music and visual art, staging it in an unconventional way.
The main goal of the production is to define the female role without generalizations, to discuss the complex issues of giving life, and to strive for honest freedom in relationships.
