Félix Pastor and Michael Douglas Jones, Västerås Konserthus, Sweden. Photo by by Henny Linn Kjellberg.

drömseminarium / dream seminar is a new piece of music-theater based on the texts of contemporary Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer and music of American composer Ellen Lindquist, produced by Companion Star, and developed collaboratively by an international company of musicians and artists.

drömseminarium creates an environment in which the spaces between the real and unreal elements of life are bridged, an important theme that appears throughout Tranströmer’s work. It is bilingual, mixing Tranströmer’s original Swedish with English translations (Robin Fulton). The cast of drömseminariumincludes two singer/actors and twelve instrumentalist/actors. A highly unique aspect of the piece is that all players, instrumentalists and singers alike, are characters in the piece, and also movers (with coaching from Swedish choreographer Helena Högberg). Set design by ceramic artist Henny Linn Kjellberg is a central element of the piece. Costume design is by Camille Assaf, and lighting design by Torkel Skjærven. Directed by Patrick Diamond. drömseminarium is a large-scale work, roughly 75 minutes in length, and is slated to premiere in September 2014 in Sweden.

Watch a video about the making of drömseminarium

Listen to music from drömseminarium:
Längre in:

Romanska Bågar:

Listen to an interview with Ellen about drömseminarium:

Resources:

drömseminarium

Companion Star

YouTube

dream seminar Facebook page

soprano, bass, and chamber orchestra (flute/alto flute, oboe/English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn, trombone, harp, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello, contrabass)
[Swedish text: Tomas Tranströmer] Read more »

solo amplified alto flute Read more »

solo violin
also: solo viola • solo cello
[for dance] Read more »

evening-length performance art piece with music for solo cello Read more »