''Days and Nights with Christ'' is the first of five full-scale operas by the

Constantine Koukias Constantine Koukias (born 14 October 1965) is a Tasmanian composer and opera director of Greek ancestry based in Amsterdam, where he is known by his Greek name of Konstantin Koukias. He is the co-founder and artistic director of IHOS Music The ...

a Tasmanian composer and opera director of Greek ancestry based in Amsterdam, where he is known by his Greek name of Konstantin Koukias. This was the first opera / music theatre production by IHOS Experimental Theatre Troupe (now

IHOS Music Theatre and Opera IHOS Music Theatre and Opera is a Tasmanian opera company that was established in Hobart in 1990, by composer and artistic director Constantine Koukias, and production director Werner Ihlenfeld. It specializes in creating original music-theatre ...

). It premiered at Hobart's Salamanca Arts Festival in 1990 and two years later was a highlight of the Festival of Sydney. The work, which explores images associated with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

, was inspired by the experiences of the composer's brother and by their shared Greek heritage.

The text

Featuring a

dramatic soprano A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra. Thicker vocal folds in dramatic voices usually (but not always) mean less agility than lighter voices but a ...

, a

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

, a speaking voice (the mother) and a dancer (Christ), ''Days and Nights with Christ'' is sung in Ecclesiastical and modern Greek. The

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

is a collection of fragments drawn from Byzantine liturgy, the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

, the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

, Jewish-American eccentric Emanuel Bronner's “Rules for Life”, and an interpretation of commentary provided by individuals with schizophrenia.

Musical influences

The music, influenced by Greek Orthodox

Byzantine chant Byzantine music () originally consisted of the songs and hymns composed for the courtly and religious ceremonial of the Byzantine Empire and continued, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, in the traditions of the sung Byzantine chant of East ...

, is essentially melodic, combining the human voice with electronically treated acoustic instruments. The ensemble comprises two voices, electric

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

oboe d'amore The ; (), less commonly (), is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano of the oboe family, betw ...

and percussion.

Dance

Dancer Christos Linou played Christ in the 1990, 1992 and 1997 productions. Reviewing the 1992 Sydney production, Brian Hoad described the performance as "an extraordinary portrait of anguish and agony, a beautiful yet pitifully broken man painfully struggling through lonely space".

Staging

''Days and Nights with Christ'' is noted for its use of the vast spaces that were so characteristic of early Koukias operas produced by IHOS such as ''

To Traverse Water ''To Traverse Water'' is an opera by Constantine Koukias a Tasmanian composer and opera director of Greek ancestry based in Amsterdam, where he is known by his Greek name of Konstantin Koukias. The opera depicts a young Greek woman's departure for ...

'' and '' Tesla''. Innovative staging effects included a wall of ice and a mountain of salt, which together created "almost impossibly vivid stage pictures".

Selected articles

''Days and Nights with Christ'' was last produced in 1997. In the years since then, it has featured in a number of publications, including Gordon Kerry's ''New Classical Music: Composing Australia''Kerry, Gordon 2009, ''New Classical Music: Composing Australia'', UNSW Press, Sydney and RealTime's ''In Repertoire: A Selected Guide To Australian Music Theatre''.RealTime 2000, In Repertoire: A Selected Guide to Australian Music Theatre,

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

In his detailed and nuanced discussion of the work, Kerry comments that "out of the braying trombone, the electro-acoustic atmospherics, the simple chants, the keening, Koukias has created a compelling portrait of a soul in agony and has done so in sounds, in music."

References

External links

Tasmanian Composers Collective listing for Constantine Koukias
* ttp://www.abc.net.au/rn/music/mshow/s49250.htm Details of live interview with Constantine Koukiasby Andrew Ford on

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

's The Music Show, including broadcast of recording {{Constantine Koukias, state=expanded Operas English-language operas 1990 operas Operas by Constantine Koukias