Close your eyes. Turn off your phone. The lights go out.
Pitchblack Playback invites us to experience opera in a way few ever do: in complete darkness, free from distraction. Every ounce of attention is given to the music, in a listening format that has earned cult status among music lovers around the world.
Together with Pitchblack Playback, we present three listening sessions at Empire Bio, each hosted by a special guest who shares opera they return to again and again.
28. juli: Opera according to Bisse
Bisse is one of the most distinctive voices in Danish musi. A songwriter who follows his own artistic instincts rather than passing trends. His songs reveal a rare belief in music's ability to embrace the full complexity of being human. But what place does opera hold in his world? This year, Bisse appears in The Ring – Forever Hot at Copenhagen Opera Festival. At Pitchblack Playback, in complete darkness, he shares the opera that has inspired him most and invites us to listen before we see. The evening features music by Schubert, Mahler, Mozart and Wagner, personally selected by Bisse.
20. august: Defining Moments - Operas that changed my life and steered my course
This is not a conventional introduction to the history of opera. Instead, we'll listen to the works that have shaped Amy Lane's artistic vision and guided her journey as an opera director, from Mozart, Wagner, Puccini and Gounod to Missy Mazzoli. Amy Lane is Artistic Director of Copenhagen Opera Festival, and just weeks after this session she she will join as the new Director of Opera for Opera Australia, one of the world's leading opera companies based in the Sydney Opera House.
