OPERA BALLET “WHITE BUTTERFLY YOKKO” TOOK PLACE IN JURMALA, AT “FABRIKA” THEATRE

The premiere of the chamber opera-ballet “White Butterfly Yokko” took place in Jurmala on August 18 – 21, 2021. The performances were in the open area of TEATRIS FABRIKA next to the historic building of the 19th century, the former Schmidt’s boarding house.

JSA was involved in the technical and in some measure organizational part of the preparation and holding of this unique event for Latvia. Initially, the premiere was supposed to take place at the Park Hotel Ķemeri. But later, for some technical reasons beyond the control of the organizers of the project, the performances were relocated. Therefore, Arnis Grinbergs, the technical director of the project from the JSA company, had to urgently deal with the questions of how to transfer the performances, both in technical and organizational issues.

Finally, everything went well and the Creative Association TEATRO FABRICA was able to present its new project to the audience, slightly adapting it to the new platform.

Chamber OPERA-BALLET “White Butterfly Yokko” of the composer Vitaly Galutva (1951 – 2007) was put up based on the poetic cycle “Scarlet ink on black silk” by the Japanese poetess Yokko Irinati (IX-XII centuries).

Director Maria de Valyukoff – theatrical figure, actress, theater and film director, and candidate of art history – managed to create the quintessence of the audiovisual embodiment of the aesthetics of Eastern culture in a modern cut of spectacular video projections and original scenography. The stage space of the production was a Japanese garden, with huge blooming chrysanthemums, from which three women, three voices, and three facets of beauty grow.

It was an international creative team that took part in the work on the project – professional and talented artists, actors, and musicians with extensive experience of working on stage venues around the world.

There are some pictures below – fragments of the play “White Butterfly Yokko”.