Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryar’s opera ‘Marilyn Forever’ has its world première today (13/09) in Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). Bryars (*1943), Britain’s leading post-minimalist composer, has composed this new chamber opera on a libretto written by Marilyn Bowering.
Set in the passage between life and death, ‘Marilyn Forever’ reveals the essence of a life committed to the ideals of beauty and love, in a world without values. It is based on aspects of the life of actress Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe is often looked at as either a sex object, a victim or a fantasy. Throughout this work, however, we are given a combination of her sensitivity and exhibitionism, as well as a view from the ‘inside’ of her conflicting emotions and ambitions.
Under the direction of Canadian stage director Joel Ivany, the opera brings Faroe Island’s premiere vocalist Eivør Pálsdóttir performing the role of Marilyn together with baritone Thomas Sandberg as ‘the men in her life’. Victoria’s Aventa Ensemble is conducted by Bill Linwood
