Pianist and composer without borders, Jean-Marie Machado, defines himself as a “music inventor” . What he likes are hybrid projects around the voice.
His shows range from homage to Boby Lapointe to the sublimation of Latin voices, but he has also composed oratorio, pocket opera, worked for the theater… “It was the right time to try this adventure,” he emphasizes.
The cliff of tomorrowsis his first opera in which Breton, English and French mix. With music written in the spirit of improvised music, “which opens towards unexpected registers” .
It will be performed by Danzas, the composer’s orchestra, with a wind quintet, a string sextet, piano, guitar, drums and accordion, “which brings a popular and moving color”, explains this native of Tangier (Morocco), based in the bay of Morlaix (Finistère) since 2008.
An impossible love
Jean-Marie Machado ordered the libretto from the storyteller Jean-Jacques Fdida. “A tragedy, because the public likes to be told stories, they like to become attached to the characters. »
The cliff of tomorrows tells of an impossible love, with jealousy, extreme passion and murder against the backdrop of the First World War. It’s the story of love at first sight between an English puppeteer, who comes to give a show in Roscoff (Finistère), and a woman harassed by a monster who can’t stand the fact that she can look at another man. “It questions the notion of cruelty on Earth and how we are going to get rid of it. If we don’t succeed, think of another place: that of eternity…”
“An adventure in unknown territory”
The composer chose to mix lyrical voices, but also voices of artists from musicals and songs. He invited Nolwenn Korbell: “It’s a challenge, an adventure in unknown territory, which makes you grow and move forward,” welcomes the Breton actress, composer and performer.
This is the first time that an opera has been created in Breton, his mother tongue. “This is the opportunity to bring this language to life, to hear it, to accept it. Making it sound in a setting like the opera house is no small thing. »
Jean Lacornerie stages this atypical project: “When I arrived, Jean-Marie Machado had not started to compose, I saw how music can change the light of the libretto. »
The director brought the eighteen musicians of the orchestra on stage, as if in an amphitheater. “It’s up to me to sharpen the viewer’s listening skills. I’m lucky that music is very visual. We see the sea, the landscapes. She is also very vital. The mixing of languages also adds to the charm of the show. »
From November 7 to 10, at the Rennes opera, opera-rennes.fr/fr. From February 26 to 1is March 2025 in Nantes, April 24 in Angers, then in Créteil, Tourcoing.
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