Chamber opera for 9 instruments, 6 soloists and choir, commissioned in 2022 by Music Stages and premiered in May 2023 in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. Based on Merel Hubatka's wonderful book 'Norman', the opera tells the story of a young Dutchman, who is sent to Dutch New Guinea in the late fifties. Employed by the Dutch colonial government, his job is to 'organise' the local people and to 'prepare' them for 'independence'. (...) Unknown to him however, geopolitical events and tensions put increasing pressure on the Dutch to hand over the last remains of their Eastern colonial empire to Soekarno's Indonesia. Caught in the middle are the Papua's, who want independence and (to this day) resist being part of Indonesia.

Opera Papoea describes the adventures of a young Dutch civil servant in the jungle of West-Papua. The young man is torn between the exploration of his own sexuality and his fascination for the lives and rites of the people living in the jungle. The opera is written mostly in Dutch. Pictures below by Emelie Schäfer.

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