Homer’s “Odyssey”, an unparalleled epic with endless themes. This version offered by the Opéra de Limoges focuses on Ulysses’ son, Télémaque, who waits in vain for his father’s return. An Opera Kids project, which allows the youngest to discover this artistic practice and to perform with professional musicians and singers.
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Created in 2018 by composer Jules Matton and directed by David Gauchard of the company l’Unijambiste, the odyssey is an audacious opera for young audiences. A revisited version of the famous epic evoked by the prism of the son, Télémaque and the theme of the absence of the father.
A project carried out with the Opéra de Limoges, the children of the Opéra Kids program and the renowned musicians of the Debussy Quartet. All of them performed on June 10 and 11 on the stage of the Opéra de Limoges.
On a beach, Telemachus, the son of Ulysses and Penelope, awaits his father. He is joined by a band of children of sailors, who also scrutinize the return of the boats. A troupe, which will grow together, in sadness and expectation. Because if everyone knows the exploits of Ulysses and the story of Homer, the bias here is to think from the point of view of the son, Telemachus, who will spend ten years waiting and growing up without his father. “Telemachus does not know his father. It is also this quest for identity that is interesting, how one can grow without this structure, this image of the father”, explains director David Gauchard.
In Limoges, since 2018, children have had the chance to follow the program Opera Kids, which aims to introduce the world of Opera to the youngest, by having them fully participate. Thus several creations have emerged, mixing professional artists and these children who for some do not have much access to culture.
For the odysseya choir accompanied the soloists as well as the Debussy Quartet, accustomed to large international halls. “Beyond the fantastic work carried out by the children, there is also this rigor required which is the same as with professionalsexplains violinist Christophe Colette. The public must not imagine that there are professionals on one side and amateurs on the other. It’s a team effort.”
An original approach, too, to this founding text written around 3000 years ago by Homer. An epic that still resonates, an initiatory quest and themes that are transmitted in the collective memory through the centuries.