WOMAN AT POINT ZERO

BUSHRA EL-TURK* (1982)

PRODUCTION LOD MUZIEKTHEATER GAND
IN COPRODUCTION WITH FESTIVAL FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE, ALL ARIAS FESTIVAL (DESINGEL ANTWERPEN, OPERA BALLET VLAANDEREN, CONCERTGEBOUW BRUGGE, MUZIEKTHEATER TRANSPARANT & LOD MUZIEKTHEATER), ROYAL OPERA HOUSE COVENT GARDEN, SHUBBAK FESTIVAL LONDON, BRITTEN PEARS ARTS, LES THÉÂTRES DE LA VILLE DE LUXEMBOURG

WITH THE SUPPORT OF CERCLE INCISES POUR LA CRÉATION CONTEMPORAINE

WITH THE SUPPORT OF ENOA AND CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, PRS FOUNDATION, FEDORA, AFAC (THE ARAB FUND FOR ARTS AND CULTURE) & LA MESURE TAX SHELTER DU GOUVERNEMENT FÉDÉRAL BELGE

LAURÉAT DU PRIX FEDORA - GENERALI POUR L'OPÉRA 2020

Pavillon Noir

1011July

— Opera— Incises

LIBRETTO BY STACY HARDY BASED ON WOMAN AT POINT ZERO (1975) BY NAWAL EL SAADAWI

WORLD PREMIERE

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Conductor

Kanako Abe

Stage director

Laila Soliman*

Stage designer and video

Bissane Al Charif

Video

Julia König

Costume designer

Eli Verkeyn

Lighting

Loes Schakenbos

Fragments Audio Documentary Film

Aida Elkashef

Assistant to the Conductor

Ivan Cheng

Staging Assistant

Nadia Amin

Vocal Coach

Samir Bendimered

Fatma

Dima Orsho

Sama

Carla Nahadi Babelegoto

Orchestra

Ensemble Zar - Hyelim Kim (daegeum) Milos Milivojevic (accordion) Raphaela Danksagmuller (recorder, cromorne, fujara, duduk, kaval) Chatori Shimizu (sho) Faraz Eshghi Sahraei (kamânche) Hanna Kölbel (cello)

*Former artists of the Académie

They know that if I live, I will eventually kill them.

Nawal El Saadawi, Woman at Point Zero (1975)

An Egyptian woman awaits on death row: she killed her pimp in self-defence and is therefore about to be hanged. Ferdaous – whose name in Arabic means “paradise” – recounts her exemplary story from hell: it is a story of a woman who, since her earliest childhood, has suffered all possible forms of male domination and exploitation, including prostitution. Inspired by the acclaimed and cutting novel by Nawal El Saadawi, a leading advocate of women's rights in Egypt, Woman at Point Zero is led by four women artists – composer Bushra El-Turk, stage director Laila Soliman, writer Stacy Hardy and film director Aida Elkashef – who are eager to bring new women’s voices in opera and, in so doing, to reinvent opera’s form and language. Empowerment, sisterhood, and a liberating humour are the ingredients of this multimedia opera, which draws on diverse musical influences from Europe to Asia and the Middle East. It is supported by enoa, the European network of opera academies, and has been awarded the FEDORA Opera Prize 2021.