Bregenzer Fest Spiele: 'Hold Your Breath' - Éna Brennan, Hugo Canoilas & David Poutney

'Hold Your Breath' 2024 [World premiere] -  Éna Brennan | Hugo Canoilas | David Pountney.

In English with German surtitles.

Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival as part of the Opera Atelier. In collaboration with the Kunsthaus Bregenz.

In a society whose life is emotionlessly organized by individual actors, a young woman tries to keep the memory of her grandmother alive. People suddenly find themselves confronted with a creature whose movements grip and change everyone. Some claim to have created this being, reminiscent of a mysterious octopus. What does this creature have to do with people themselves and do they have their lives in their hands?

An opera for the workshop stage is the result of a multi-year work process in the opera studio between the composer Éna Brennan, the director and librettist David Pountney and the visual artist Hugo Canoilas. One of the most fascinating - and probably most intelligent - creatures on our planet, an octopus, plays an essential role from the very beginning. The voices and movements of the singers and dancers combine with the live and electronically transmitted sounds of the musicians to create an opera for all the senses.

As a violinist and composer, Éna Brennan moves between different worlds. Her short opera Rupture , part of the 20 Shots of Opera at the Irish National Opera, received international attention in 2020. The visual artist Hugo Canoilas often transforms his exhibition spaces into walk-in stages. Born in Lisbon, the multimedia artist lives in Vienna, New York and Portugal. David Pountney returns to Bregenz, where he shaped the Bregenz Festival with several productions for the Seebühne, which he directed as artistic director from 2004 to 2014.

Cast & Creative Team

The Official - Scott Hendricks
The Red Leader | Priest | Dollmaker | Speaker - Sam Furness
The Black Leader | Dollmaker - Maria Hegele
The Nurse | Dollmaker - Idunnu Münch
The Granddaughter | Dollmaker | Woman - Shira Patchornik
Questioner 1 (dancer) - Hellen Boyko
Questioner 2 (dancer) - Petr Nedbal
Questioner 3 (dancer) - Romane Ruggiero

Music - Éna Brennan
Direction - David Pountney
Setting | Costumes - Hugo Canoilas
Choreography - Caroline Finn
Dramaturgy - Olaf A. Schmitt
Musical direction - Karen Ní Bhroin

Members of the VORARLBERG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.

Tickets

2 ticket categories for the opera: seated tickets in the numbered auditorium, and standing room which invites you to experience the production directly and from different angles as you walk around.

€22-38. More information here.