Diana Soh speaks with Opera Dijon about her work, ‘Zylan ne chantera plus’
At the beginning of may, Diana Soh’s monodrama ‘Zylan ne chantera plus’ was performed at opera dijon
Diana Soh spoke with Opera Dijon about her work Zyland ne chantera plus. Read the translated interview below!
Coproduction with Opéra de Lyon, Cie Anonyme,
Cité de la Voix et Comédie de Valence -CDN Dôme Ardèche
Musical commission Chant de Linos
Staging Richard Brunel
Music Diana Soh
Libretto Yann Verburgh
Staging Stephan Zimmerli
Dramaturgy Youness Anzane
Collaboration artistic Catherine Ailloud-Nicolas
Costumes Mathieu Trappler
Lighting Victor Egea
Assistant stage director Valérie Marinese-Barboza
Zylan Benoît Rameau
Electric guitar Maarten Stragier
Cello Loris Sikora
Percussions Yi-Ping Yang
Performer Valérie Marinese-Barboz
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Diana, you are the composer of Zylan ne chantera, a piece created in co-production with Opéra de Lyon, the Anonymous Company, the City of the Voice and the Comedy of Valence-CDN Dôme Ardèche, with libretto written by Yann Verburgh. What is this work about?
This is a story of discrimination. Zylan, a rising pop star, is suspected of homosexuality. He is arrested on the way to a wedding. The work describes his distress and this injustice. Unfortunately, it is inspired by a true story. The action takes place in a fictional country that looks like many current countries…Zylan is tortured and killed by the police simply because he is in love.
So, you are talking about topical issues, of discrimination, of homophobia…The play seems to particularly affect teenagers and students. Was it pre-planned?
It is an opera for all audiences conceived at the request of Richard Brunel, who wanted to create a work that could be shown in places other than opera houses. That’s how he came up with the idea of a travelling opera and I must admit that I was very touched by his proposal: invent a light device, adaptable to all spaces, to encounter different audiences and show them what an opera is today. Wander with a work that evokes subjects that affect us all, which makes us think and reflect, collectively.
Is this what opera, as a genre, should be today? In other words, does opera have a political role…a role to play in the polis, the city?
Opera has been, since its origins at the very beginning of the 17th century, eminently political. Wanting to make it something different from this, in the name of art for art’s sake, is impossible. This would be lying!
Let’s talk about the score in more detail. What were your compositional choices?
Given that Zylan is a pop star, it was necessary to use some musical elements that resemble this style. This was my initial intuition; I wanted music that was simple, direct, with singable melodies. It is also with this in mind that I have decided to integrate electric guitar, the second element of such music (pop)! Its timbre alone evokes this pop universe, but it is also an instrument that allows for the creation of other sounds and much harsher noises. In this way, the sonorities made directly echo the story, which is extremely violent.
Is this your first time writing for electric guitar?
Yes! I have known Maarten [Maarten Stragier, the guitarist in this production] for a long time, but we have never worked together. Zylan has therefore also enabled this beautiful collaboration and I’m happy about it.
How would you define your musical language in this work?
I like to do new things, explore new territories so that I am not too comfortable in writing, to grow with the work. This has determined my approach; it’s a production in which I experimented with a lot of things. From this point of view, there was a before and after Zylan in my work as a composer.
We’ve talked about guitar, but now let’s talk in more detail about the workers and musicians, if you don’t mind: Zylan is embodied by the singer Benoît Branch. He is accompanied by Maarten Stragier on electric guitar, therefore, Loris Sikora on cello and Yi-Ping Yang on percussion. A small group to recreate a very small cell…
Yes. The audience sees the instrumentalists. We built them a sort of cage on set. Everything is therefore integrated into this stage space designed with austerity. It is like a vast game of ping-pong between the singer and the three instrumentalists, who are therefore also extras, actors. They are not only there to accompany; their physical presence is crucial.
For this, you collaborated with the director Richard Brunel, renowned for his opera productions. How was working with him? I will take advantage of this moment to mention all the great people who also worked on the project: Stephan Zimmerli for scenography, Youness Anzane and Catherine Ailloud-Nicolas for dramaturgy, Mathieu Trappler for costumes and Victor Egéa for lighting.
Zylan was our first experience together. Yann Verburgh, Richard Brunel, and I immediately bonded, and we collaborated almost straight away. I really like Richard’s way of working, and I learned a lot from him. The creation time was very compact; we were united and we managed to combine the energies. I remember a smooth and easy process between the three of us. I would like to work with them again on another project in the future.
And how did you work? Did Yann write the libretto first or did you work together from the start?
We had a lot of discussions on the phone and over Zoom to build a kind of framework, which allowed us to lay the groundwork for the project. Then there was a period when Yann isolated himself to write a first version of the libretto. That is what then allowed us to work, Yann and I, in a very narrow manner. You know, the link between a librettist and a composer is very particular…We really both worked intensely. Then Yann worked with Richard, and we all worked together, with the interpreters, in different houses. From the first moment, we already knew precisely where we wanted to go. The structure was there, we just had to unify it and make it all smoother.
Among this beautiful team, we forgot to mention an essential person: Valérie Marinese-Barboza, who is the assistant director, but who is also in Zylan on stage as an actress. For what? Tell me about his role…
It was Richard’s decision and indeed, you are right, this character is not part of Yann’s libretto. It happened very naturally. As Benoît, she embodied different characters in turn. This versatility is one of the hallmarks of the show, a bias of staging. Benoît is Zylan, but also sometimes the person who tortures him, sometimes also his sister…There are ten paintings and the characters are embodied by some and the others, in turn, in a very readable and very fluid way.
At what point in your career does Zylan arrive? How do you see this work in your catalogue?
Zylan is my fourth opera, even though I made the decision to release it after the first two in my catalogue. The third is a monodrama, A is for Ayiah, in which the scenic space is…the orchestra! The singer arrives in the orchestra, moves everything, tears up the scores, upsets the musicians. It is fun, certainly, but also interesting because it is an opera in a non-operating context! An opera without an opera scene. Zylan comes after…It’s another monodrama, still between theatre and opera, but on another subject and with another aesthetic perspective.
Zylan ne chantera plus will be shown at the Grand Théâtre de Dijon. Do you know this place?
I have never been to Dijon, but one of my works has. My piece [p][k][t] for piccolo and electronics was premiered by IRCAM in Dijon…She preceded me, in a way!
Could you concoct a small playlist which weaves links, tight or loose, with Zylan for us?
Yes, with pleasure. I want to share two pieces with you:
The first was written during Zylan’s residencies. It is a work for a cappella mastery, commissioned by the Master of Radio France, titled Tu es magique…When I told you that there was a before and after Zylan; this is a testimony to that.
I also want to share two movements from SSSH, a work for string quartet.
The last one is being created in Poitiers and allows us to stay in the world of opera and in the register of tragic love. It is called the Carmen Case. This opera tells of what happens after Carmen’s death. Don Jose stands before the Assize Court, accused of feminicide. He tells his story, which allows you to hear excerpts from Bizet’s work…like flashbacks. It is a Bizet deformed by the memory and psychology of Don José. For me, the challenge was to create a score based on neutral, objective texts in a legal manner!
READ THE INTERVIEW IN FRENCH
upcoming concerts
24TH JUNE 2023 | ILE DE SAINT SEINEDENIS, FRANCE
PROGRAMME
New Work: Ackee
for 6 female voices
Text: Marion Aubert
Ensemble Vocal Sequenza 93 (dir. Catherine Simonpietri)
15TH JULY 2023 | PAVILLION NOIR, FESTIVAL D'AIX EN PROVENCE
PROGRAMME
New Work: Façons tragiques de tuer une femme
Chamber Opera for 3 singers, 2 actors, vocal ensemble and amplified object-orchestra
Direction: Lisenka Heijboer Castañón
Text: Sabryna Pierre