Curon Graun

by OHT | Office for a Human Theatre
Music by Arvo Pärt
Fratres for string quartet
Fratres for strings and percussion
Fratres  for violin, strings and percussion
Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Editore Universal Edition AG
sales representative for Italy Casa Ricordi, Milan

HAYDN ORCHESTRA OF BOLZANO AND TRENTO
conductor and solo violin Stefano Ferrario
direction Filippo Andreatta
set-design Paola Villani
light-design William Trentini / Veronica Varesi Monti
video Armin Ferrari
Production Haydn Foundation of Bolzano and Trento
Coproduction OHT – Office for a Human Theatre, Central Fies art work space

HISTORY OF A DROWNED VILLAGE

The construction of a large dam in 1950 united the Resia lake and the di Mezzo lake, submerging 523 hectares of cultivated land and 163 houses of the former village of Curon in the Vinschgau valley. The protests of the population, which firmly opposed the construction of the dam and the subsequent destruction of the village, were futile. Since then, nothing has remained of Curon, except for the upper part of the bell tower of St. Anne's Church.

OHT [Office for a Human Theatre] tells the story of Curon with a hypnotic piece of musical theatre, inspired by the work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

By confronting the audience with a space without actors, Curon/Graun uses a slowed-down narration combining texts and images with the Estonian composer's two compositions performed by elements of the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento: Fratres (three versions: for string quartet, for strings and percussion, and for violin, strings and percussion) and Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, whose tolling symbolises that of the church of St Anne.

The bell tower of the church in the sunken village thus becomes the sole protagonist of the scene, while the sound of the bell, evoked by Pärt's tinkling, vehemently brings out the invisible forces of the Alpine landscape. 

A work of radical visual and poetic force that, communicating through the stillness and splendour of images, aims to bring theatre back to its deepest roots.