Project

Sidérations

Chamber opera

composition: Georges Aperghis
staging & choreography: Johanne Saunier
rehearsal director: Filip Rathé
dramaturgy: Marion Platevoet
scenographic concept: JOJI INC Jim Clayburgh, Johanne Saunier
scenography & video: Emeric Adrian
costumes: Sophie Van Den Keybus
artistic coordination: Fabienne Séveillac

HYOID voices
Angèle Chemin, Sarah Defrise, Maris Pajuste, Fabienne Seveillac, Andreas Halling, Arnout Lems, Pascal Zurek

United Instruments of Lucilin
Danielle Hennicot, Ingrid Schoenlaub, Pascal Meyer, Max Mausen

sound & electronics: tbc

Creation mid-2026

Chamber opera composed from :
− Sidérations, creation 2026, for 4 singers et 4 instrumentalists, texts and music by Georges Aperghis
− Quai n°1, 1978, for 3 instrumentalists and 7 singers, music by Georges Aperghis on a text by Marie-Noël Rio
− selection of Monomanies (1991), Jactations (2001), Retrouvailles (2013) and of texts from ZIG-BANG (2004)

In 1978, with Quai n°1, Georges Aperghis and Marie-Noël Rio created the portrait of a woman suspended between the memory of her violated body, the gazes cast upon her and her repressed desires. On this enigmatic canvas where different voices collide, the nightmare of sexual violence and the inner world of a woman are unraveled in a polyphonic snapshot. A rare gesture into the lyrical landscape of the time, reflecting the modernity of Georges Aperghis’ collaborations with female performers and creators throughout his career. With this in mind, HYOID and United Instruments of Lucilin have joined forces to invite Georges Aperghis, fifty years later, to open a new trail in which the repressed words can unfold. The fierceness of womanhood, assignations, abuses, uprising and aspirations: what differences can we perceive in half a century? Stage director and choreographer Johanne Saunier takes up the challenge of taking us on a journey from Quai n°1 (1978) to Sidérations (2026). Quai n°1 revolves around the impossibility of saying things other than in the fragmentation of speech and sensations, and the urge to invent a new language. In response, Sidérations1 pursues this investigation into the renewal of language, this time through momentum, rebellion and the flow of breath. If places of domination have not disappeared, what face do they take now?

SIDÉRATIONS draws on the multiple strengths of Aperghis’s musical theatre. The tableaux vivants based on a selection of texts, solos and duets exploring other ways of relating to oneself and to others, form the skeleton of this chamber opera, in which the two central pieces will resonate. With the performers of HYOID and United Instruments of Lucilin under the eye of live cameras, SIDÉRATIONS unfolds a polyphony of points of view. By staging the shocks, retreats, liberations, alliances of voices or silences into something tangible, we question our ability to discern when facing violence and the force of our desires. Where do we stand in the arena of perception?

Links
Biographie de Georges Aperghis
Un portrait de Georges Aperghis – Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2021
Biographie de Johanne Saunier

Contacts
Production : HYOID voices Coordination artistique : Fabienne Séveillac – info@hyoidvoices.com
Coproduction: United Instruments of Lucilin
Diffusion France : Coline Vandenberghe – coline.la.musica.artists@gmail.com

www.aperghis.com
www.hyoidvoices.com
www.lucilin.lu