Description

The opera premiered on September 15, 2023 in London, at the Barbican Arts Center.

Composer: Volha Padhajskaja

Directors: Natallia Kaliada and Mikalaj Chalezin

Conductor: Vital Aliaksiajonak

Libretto: Mikalaj Chalezin

Verses: Andrej Chadanovič

________________________________________

I am old, I am very old,

ninety-six years old.

I’ve been hunting for a long time

for forgotten songs and words.

I am a seeker of gray legends,

who travels the land of the wanderer.

They call them “intellectuals”,

and invite them to the gendarmerie.

They drown the region in blood and mire,

but hope is not quietly dead,

because Belarus is still alive,

as long as the language breathes song.

…I tore at the break of my head

on a folklore expedition.

Beneath my feet is the maw of the mire,

and from heaven, a flood and a storm.

Tell me how in dire need

you almost died, you foolish youth.

I invite you to a land where

the wild hunt is galloping.