MEDIATHEK

PRASQUAL
ORLANDO
ARCHITECTURE OF LIGHT

ARCHITECTURE OF LIGHT is the 3rd part of the opera project ORLANDO. ORLANDO consists of 4 parts:

1. ARCHITECTURE OF DARKNESS for 16 loudspeakers on 4 levels in a pyramid (planned for 2017/2018)
2. ARCHITECTURE OF LOVE for 4 stage soloists, 8 vocal soloists, instrumental ensemble and electronic sounds (planned for 2015-2017)
3. ARCHITECTURE OF LIGHT for 2 soloists, instrumental ensemble and electronic sounds (2011-2013)
4. ARCHITECTURE OF ETERNITY (planned for 2019/2020)

The work on ORLANDO has begun in 2011, the completion of the whole cycle is planned for 2020.

Though the third in the cycle, ARCHITECTURE OF LIGHT was composed as the first. It had its premiere on the 8th of November 2013 in the hall no.2 of the International Fair in Poznań /Poland/ as a coproduction of the Polish Dance Theatre with the High School of Music in Poznań with support of the Polish Ministry of Culture, Institute for Music and Dance and the Kunststiftung NRW. The premiere of the final version took place in the Kunststation St. Peter in Cologne /Germany/ on 28th of March 2014 with the support of Kunststiftung NRW, General Consulate of the Polish Republic in Cologne, Kunststation St. Peter, Polish institute in Düsseldorf, ON-Neue Musik Köln, Foundation for the Polish-German Cooperation and the RWE-Foundation .

The main component of the piece is the series of eight rituals of which the first seven are performed by homogeneous instrumental groups building the super-instruments in the space, and the eighth by the soloists.


The rituals are performed in the following order:

1. RITUAL OF DARKNESS for 2 tuba players
2. RITUAL OF TRANSITION for 4 oboe players
3. RITUAL OF LOVE for 2 dancing saxophone players
4. RITUAL OF BLOOD for 3 trombone players
5. RITUAL OF LIGHT for 4 clarinet players
6. RITUAL OF PLAY for 4 percussion players
7. RITUAL OF ETERNITY for 4 french horn players
8. RITUAL OF ONENESS for soprano and trumpet player


The piece unfolds organically on three levels:

1. The level of the instrumental ensemble from which the groups of instruments separate to move around and through the audience during the performing of the rituals.
2. The level of the soloists who act from the galleries like two angels.
3. The level of the electronic music – four loudspeaker(groups) around the audience, set between the level 1 and 2.

There is no dramatic action in a common sense. The piece is a ritual music theatre of the sound.