Work In progress

Helvedsblomsterne is a sensuous, staged hybrid opera concert where music, text, body, and space merge into a dark, vibrating universe. Drawing on Charles Baudelaire, with threads of mythology, biblical texts, and fairy tales, the work explores the fragmentation of the human condition in a world on the brink of collapse.

Mezzo-soprano Sophie Haagen’s voice unfolds within an organic soundscape created by Mikkel B. Grevsen and Ensemble Hermes, where strings, electronics, and brass weave in and out of one another – a body, a voice, a mirror.

Helvedsblomsternerevolves around the human ego, the loss of community, and the longing to return to something primordial. It is a journey through decay and beauty, where darkness is not the end, but a state of constant transformation. Synthesizer, opera, vocoder, sub-bass, soaring strings, and brass horns merge into a singular expression.

An intense and poetic concert experience that opens opera to new audiences and leaves us sharing a single breath - in the midst of a burning world.

Tekster

Beauté du Chaos
Skønhed af Kaos

Avant la terre, les montagnes, les vagues
Du sang naquit la mer, des os, les montagnes, du crâne brisé, le ciel
Ainsi naquit le monde
Pas de paix
Pas d’ordre
Mais du chaos.

Før jorden, før bjergene, før bølgerne
Af blod blev havene, af knogler, bjergene, af knust kranie, himmelhvælvet.
Sådan fødtes verden.
Ikke af fred
Ikke af orden
Men af kaos.

Alle kompositioner af Mikkel B. Grevsen.

Melodi på La mort joyeuse, Elévation og Til den gamle verden af Mikkel B. Grevsen og Sophie Haagen.

Libretto af Sophie Haagen frit efter Charles Baudelaires Les Fleurs du Mal, Paulus' Første Brev til Korintherne og Ældre Edda