Kammerooper ''Põrmuline'' esmaettekanne / Eesti Muusika Päevad 2025

Liisa Hõbepappel (libretto, musical collaboration with Ensemble U:)
Eva Koldits (libretto, stage direction)

Nicholas Tamagna (countertenor, USA/Italy/Germany)
Salomėja Petronytė (soprano, Lithuania)

Lighting Design: Kristiina Tang
Video Design: Lucy Gohm
Sound Design: Tammo Sumera

Psychological Consultation: Kati-Riin Simisker
Vocal Coaching: Ryan Adams

Co-production: Liisa Hõbepappel, Estonian Music Days, Ensemble U:

It’s a day’s journey from here, then a forest and then a church – my heart is in that church. The church is encircled by a high mound, and around the mound is a big black river, and the church is closed tight with iron doors. There, inside the church, is a bird, and there inside that bird is my heart. That’s why I don’t die.*

We found an Estonian forest fairy tale called Seven Brothers Seek Wives.

We imagined that the characters in this fairy tale represent different states of mind within a single person.

We gave these states a voice to hear what they tell us about today, when in the evening we are wise, and in the morning we are fools, and our eyes devour more than our stomachs can bear.

The word "põrmuline" means a mere mortal. In the Estonian explanatory dictionary, there is an example sentence (by B. Kangro) that could be translated as:

"After all, I am just a human—weak and frail, a mere dustborn, like anyone else."

* Excerpt from Deep in The Forest. One Hundred Estonian Fairy Tales About The Forest and Its People translated by Adam Cullen

Supporters: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Ministry of Culture, Estonian Centre for Contemporary Music, Viimsi Artium, Forum Neue Kunst Oldenburg, Estonian Authors' Society

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