Latest news with #Lifschitz
Scotsman
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
EIF opera Orpheus and Eurydice to feature 'acrobats doing very dangerous things'
If you think opera staging is mannered and boring, wait until you see this production of Orpheus and Eurydice, writes Ken Walton Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Yaron Lifschitz has serious issues with opera. 'Some of it is excruciating,' he declares, which you'd reckon should worry the pants off the Edinburgh International Festival. After all, the affable founder and director of the Australian contemporary circus group Circa is the mastermind behind this year's flagship opera production of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, and here he is, revealing his 'dirty secret – that I've no knowledge of Debussy past 20 minutes of Pelléas et Mélisande because I've never remained awake long enough to hear it. I get bored very easily.' The thing is, it's not so much opera that's the problem as its mannered traditions, Lifschitz argues. 'Opera at its core is a covers band, people doing other people's music, singing in a way they were told to sing, about stuff they were told to do with a great apparatus and significant amount of funding, devoted to essentially keeping the art fairly sclerotic, inured to change. It's not the operas that are boring, but the lack of compelling ways to do them.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Orpheus and Eurydice Received wisdom, he suggests, has stifled instinct. 'I love working on Monteverdi, for instance, and one of the things I used to ask was, how could there be a set way of singing this if it was the first of its kind? Back in the 17th century it would just have been people who sang as they felt inclined, so maybe we should just go back to that rather than everyone sounding like they went to the same academy for stifling joy and creativity. I have to say I was howled down by a bunch of people who'd been to that academy and in some cases ran it.' So yes, Lifschitz is a maverick, an inquisitive free spirit who has nonetheless proved his worth in imaginative cross-genre productions that challenge the norm, including this collaborative Orpheus and Eurydice. Unveiled in Brisbane in 2019, this summer's European premiere production at the Edinburgh Playhouse draws together the original combined resources of Circa and Opera Queensland with Opera Australia, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Opera Chorus, conducted by period music specialist Laurence Cummings. That Gluck himself was a reforming phenomenon, freeing 18th century opera of its stilted affectations and even adapting his most famous opera to suit opposing Viennese and Parisian tastes, clearly appealed to Lifschitz, and needless to say, he's taken brazen liberties. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The traditional frontline cast of three has been reduced to two, the role of Eurydice (Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke) now conflated with that of Amor. The first sighting of Orpheus (countertenor Iestyn Davies) is in an asylum. 'My basic interpretation of the piece is that on their wedding night Eurydice dies, possibly at Orpheus's hands,' Lifschitz explains. Orpheus and Eurydice 'I'm not suggesting any ill will. Maybe they took the wrong substances to celebrate their wedding night; he wakes up in a mental institution and has no recollection of what happened. It becomes a process of memory, journeying into the Underworld. Every woman looks like her, every man is an extension of him and it probably doesn't end well. I don't want to give a spoiler, but it's opera: generally she dies, and he might.' What then of Circa's circus performers, whose virtuosic acrobatics – devised jointly by Lifschitz and fellow choreographer Bridie Hooper – provide an aligned counterpoint to the entire piece? They are, says the director, essential to his 'poetic' vision of the opera, part of 'a constant play with foregrounding and backgrounding' that respects both the polished classicism of Gluck's piece and its emotional volatility, 'that mixture of hope and fear that reminds us we're alive'. 'Working with the artists back in Brisbane on the physical embodiment of the production, the thing I keep coming back to is you have to feel a lot and show very little. Sometimes it just oozes out, sometimes the floodgates open and explode into acrobatics, but then it very quickly turns back into its classical form.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Of course, that's just the circus contingent. Is Lifschitz also expecting his singing cast to turn cartwheels? Opera Australia; Orpheus + Eurydice; Dress Rehearsal; JST; January 2024 'We're putting very experienced opera singers in fairly uncomfortable and difficult positions, very close to acrobats doing very complex and dangerous things,' he admits. How does that go down with Iestyn Davies, appearing in his first ever staged Orpheus? 'I've watched a video of the original production and know that late on in the show I have to stand on someone's shoulders,' says the English countertenor, who will eventually join the troupe for a final nine days of rehearsal. 'The biggest challenge for any singer in such a physical show is getting the breathing worked out.' Working with new people is healthy for the production, Lifschitz believes. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Every staging is different. They're all based on the same choreography, the same ideas, but when only half the artists have performed this production before – as in Edinburgh – you use that opportunity to freshen things up.' Is there one thing he'd like audiences to take away from this Orpheus? 'That's something I've thought about very carefully,' he says. 'Circa brings a show to the Fringe every year – this year we're bringing Wolf – and we have a specific following. But for an International Festival production like this I feel we have to appeal to two different audiences simultaneously. 'I'd like an opera audience to come along and think 'Wow, this is so alive', where the operatic norms of music meeting dramaturgy exceed and challenge expectations. And I'd love circus audiences to go and sense that this is richer, touches bigger emotions, moves them even more profoundly than straight circus. I want everyone to walk out of the performance at the end of the day and think it would be difficult to figure this opera any other way. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And the litmus test? 'Circus is written with one huge commandment – Thou Shalt Not Bore! When you come out of Orpheus you may love it, you may hate it, but you won't be bored.'
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Circa/LPO/Gardner review – Exhilarating, exquisite and extraordinary as Ravel melds with acrobatics
The Southbank Centre's cross-genre Multitudes festival opened with a double bill of Ravel's ballets Daphnis et Chloé and La Valse, played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner, and performed by the Australian company Circa with choreography by their artistic director Yaron Lifschitz. Circa's style amalgamates circus and acrobatics with contemporary dance, and the combination of athletic beauty, agility and strength suits Ravel uncommonly well. Rather than use the music as accompaniment to display, Lifschitz worked with the score rather than against it, though he dispensed with Daphnis et Chloé's narrative, replacing it with a sequence of contrasting abstract tableaux, now exhilarating,now erotic, always rooted in the pulse and throb of the music, played with exquisite finesse and detail by the LPO and Gardner throughout. Circa's acrobats, five women, five men, look like classical statues slowly coming to life in the Introduction, as their lifts and dives become ever more vertiginous. The Danse Guerrière became a spectacular contest of prowess between two men on a climbing frame, and in Chloé's Danse Suppliante, a woman hovered and swung with supreme grace in bolts of cloth high above the orchestra. The interlocking bodies of Lever du Jour, suggestive of ancient Greek friezes, were particularly beautiful, though the final Bacchanale, where the music turns orgiastic, eventually coalesces into an aggressive, unresolved standoff between two men. The sudden ambivalence, in fact, marked the transition to La Valse with its underlying sense of society careering towards its own destruction. The atmosphere was markedly different. Tracksuits and skirts replaced the clingy lacy outfits worn in Daphnis, and where the latter was danced in pools of light, all pastel shades and purple, the platform now glowed red. The choreography was again spectacular, if more closely woven: we're now aware of tautness and tension throughout. Routines began and ended in the formality of ballroom hold, which felt increasingly like a constraint, and Gardner ratcheted up the pressure as the waltz itself moved almost imperceptibly from suave elegance to something infinitely more troubling. Lifschitz's ending, meanwhile, with the 10 acrobats simultaneously performing a different spotlit dance was astonishing, but we were also suddenly and shockingly aware how isolated each had become. Powerful, beautiful stuff, and a most extraordinary evening.
The Independent
02-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Hostage families urge Keir Starmer to take ‘bold steps' in helping to end war
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to 'do everything possible to prevent the escalation' in Gaza, as the daughter of a killed Israeli hostage called on him to encourage both sides to return to negotiations. Two British families of Israeli hostages have written to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary David Lammy asking for 'diplomacy' and for 'bold steps' to help end the war. It comes as Israel has expanded its military operations in Gaza. The offensive was described by the country's defence minister, Israel Katz, as 'expanding to crush and clean the area' of militants and 'seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel'. Writing to the Prime Minister, Dr Sharone Lifschitz said: 'Today, I urge you once again to do everything possible to prevent the escalation of war in Gaza and encourage both sides to return to negotiations.' Both of Dr Lifschitz's parents were kidnapped on October 7 2023. Her father Oded Lifshitz was killed, while her mother Yocheved was released. She asked Sir Keir to 'do everything you can to save those who are still alive' and added: 'It's not too late to help the hostages who are in unimaginable pain. 'Recent actions by the Israeli government show a troubling willingness to risk their lives. 'Please take bold steps to bring everyone back to the negotiation table and aim for a deal that secures the return of all hostages and ends this war.' Steve Brisley, whose sister Lianne was killed alongside her two teenage daughters on October 7 2023, and whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi was recently released, has also written to the Prime Minister and Mr Lammy, telling them that 'now is the time for diplomacy, not devastation'. He said in his separate letter: 'Now is the time for the war to end. Now is the time to complete the deal and bring them home.' Mr Brisley's brother-in-law Yossi Sharabi was killed and his body is yet to be returned. More than 150 released hostages and hostage family members – including Dr Lifschitz and Mr Brisley – also released a statement on Wednesday calling for a 'stop to the fighting' and for negotiations to begin again. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement: 'We call on the international community and all mediators to exert maximum pressure on both sides. 'A deal that includes the return of all hostages and an end to the war must be signed without further delay. Every moment lost could mean another life extinguished. They added: 'We must stop the fighting and immediately return to the negotiating table to reach a comprehensive agreement for their return: all hostages in exchange for ending the war and finding a solution for the day after.' The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Israel's offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds killed in strikes since a ceasefire ended about two weeks ago, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not say whether those killed are civilians or combatants.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hostage families urge Keir Starmer to take ‘bold steps' in helping to end war
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to 'do everything possible to prevent the escalation' in Gaza, as the daughter of a killed Israeli hostage called on him to encourage both sides to return to negotiations. Two British families of Israeli hostages have written to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary David Lammy asking for 'diplomacy' and for 'bold steps' to help end the war. It comes as Israel has expanded its military operations in Gaza. The offensive was described by the country's defence minister, Israel Katz, as 'expanding to crush and clean the area' of militants and 'seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel'. Writing to the Prime Minister, Dr Sharone Lifschitz said: 'Today, I urge you once again to do everything possible to prevent the escalation of war in Gaza and encourage both sides to return to negotiations.' Both of Dr Lifschitz's parents were kidnapped on October 7 2023. Her father Oded Lifshitz was killed, while her mother Yocheved was released. She asked Sir Keir to 'do everything you can to save those who are still alive' and added: 'It's not too late to help the hostages who are in unimaginable pain. 'Recent actions by the Israeli government show a troubling willingness to risk their lives. 'Please take bold steps to bring everyone back to the negotiation table and aim for a deal that secures the return of all hostages and ends this war.' Steve Brisley, whose sister Lianne was killed alongside her two teenage daughters on October 7 2023, and whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi was recently released, has also written to the Prime Minister and Mr Lammy, telling them that 'now is the time for diplomacy, not devastation'. He said in his separate letter: 'Now is the time for the war to end. Now is the time to complete the deal and bring them home.' Mr Brisley's brother-in-law Yossi Sharabi was killed and his body is yet to be returned. More than 150 released hostages and hostage family members – including Dr Lifschitz and Mr Brisley – also released a statement on Wednesday calling for a 'stop to the fighting' and for negotiations to begin again. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement: 'We call on the international community and all mediators to exert maximum pressure on both sides. 'A deal that includes the return of all hostages and an end to the war must be signed without further delay. Every moment lost could mean another life extinguished. They added: 'We must stop the fighting and immediately return to the negotiating table to reach a comprehensive agreement for their return: all hostages in exchange for ending the war and finding a solution for the day after.' The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Israel's offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds killed in strikes since a ceasefire ended about two weeks ago, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not say whether those killed are civilians or combatants.
The Independent
20-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Body of UK-linked hostage believed to be among those returned by Hamas
The body of a UK-linked Hamas hostage is among those believed to have been returned to Israel, a lawyer representing British hostage families has said. The body of Oded Lifschitz,84, is thought to be one of the four returned by Hamas on Thursday. Mr Lifschitz's family – including his British-based daughter, Dr Sharone Lifschitz – had received no information on his whereabouts since the Hamas October 7 attack, when he was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. In a statement on Thursday morning, Adam Wagner, the lawyer for Dr Lifschitz, of Walthamstow, east London, and other British hostage families, said: 'Today, 20 February 2025, is one of immense sadness, and of failure. It appears that 503 days after they were taken from their homes by Hamas terrorists, the bodies of four people have been returned to Israel. 'It is understood that three of those bodies are of Shiri Bibas, and her two little children, Ariel and her baby, Kfir. We are horrified at their deaths. 'The fourth body is believed to be that of Oded Lifshitz, aged 84, whose daughter, our client Dr Sharone Lifschitz, is British, and whose wife, Yocheved … was freed in October 2023, also after being taken hostage.' However, the statement later said that 'we cannot confirm yet whose bodies have been returned'. Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow where Dr Lifshitz lives said that she was 'heartbroken'. In a post on Bluesky on Thursday morning, she described the news as a 'devastating blow'. 'We had hoped for a miracle – to be able to welcome Oded Lifschitz back to his family and to join them in Walthamstow,' she said. 'A man who dedicated his life to fighting for peace between Israel and Palestine, driving ambulances across the border to help.' She added: 'The news today and pictures (are) a devastating blow. We stand with out neighbour, Sharone Lifschitz, in her grief and in sharing the stories of his work.' Dr Lifschitz's father is a retired Israeli journalist, a great-grandfather and a grandfather of 11. The statement from Mr Wagner described him as someone whose 'life has always been dedicated to peace'. His wife, Yocheved, 86, was also taken hostage but was released two weeks later.
