Een Totale Entführung (A Total Abduction)

This work, EEN TOTALE ENTFÜHRUNG, was composed in 2005-06 on commission from Muziektheater Transparant. The premiere at deSingel in Antwerp on 13 September 2006 was followed by a tour of Belgium and the Netherlands. It is an adaptation of Mozart's opera “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” by Wim Henderickx (composition and orchestration) and Ramsey Nasr (text and direction). The singers sing in German, as in Mozart's opera. Wim Henderickx rewrote the score for a musical ensemble (12 instruments), supplemented by three percussionists playing typical Turkish percussion instruments. The opera ends with a new aria, written for Bassa Selim (only a speaking role in Mozart's opera). His wordless, plaintive, oriental singing evolves into a contemporary musical language. The spoken text in various Flemish and Dutch dialects was written by Ramsey Nasr (Palestinian-Dutch author and Antwerp city poet in 2005). In 2008, this resulted in - commissioned by Benjamin Haemhouts and the Belgian Chamber Philharmonic - MOZART'S ENTFÜHRUNG...?