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.

