The Clown

A concert opera about madness, love and Schubert

Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull's new opera is based on Ingmar Bergman's film The the Presence of a Clown – an absurd and beautiful story where we meet Carl Åkerblom who is passionate about Schubert.

Single sales start on May 7 at 10:00

Carl is admitted to a mental hospital, where he spends his days reflecting on Schubert's last days. In his imagination, he is visited by the clown Rigmor, an image of death that is constantly coming closer. Together with fellow patient Osvald Vogler, Carl decides to make a film about Schubert and his fictional great love Mitzi, and in the process they will invent the sound film. Can storytelling and art keep death and madness at bay?

The Clown is a beautiful musical story, which tells with simple gestures about love, madness, passion and death. Schubert's song Der Leiermann from Der Winterreise is used as a recurring theme in the music, and the frozen, poor and dying organ grinder becomes a picture of Carl and his loneliness.

Gisle Kverndokk and Aksel-Otto Bull have created a romantic, dramatic and melodious work. In this performance, Kverndokk himself is the narrator, and together with nine singers and an orchestra, he guides us through the story in a new and intimate operatic experience.

The Clown is an opera commissioned by the Arctic Philharmonic.

Music by Gisle Kverndokk

Libretto and direction by Aksel-Otto Bull

Conductor Peter Szilvay

Narrator Gisle Kverndokk

Ketil Hugaas (Bass): Carl Åkerblom
Frode Olsen (Bass): Osvald Vogler
Mathilde Salmi Marjavara (Soprano): Pauline Thibault
Silvia Moi (Soprano): The Clown Rigmor
With: Jan Erik Fillan, Eldrid Gorset, Ingebjørg Kosmo, Eline Korbi and Jørgen Backer.