The breakout of Covid-19 pandemic and the related social distancing require- ments closed all theatres and forced everyone to move to digital platforms and look for alternative presence solutions in public events. It also made us reconsider the term liveness in the context of screen-mediated theatrical experience and brought to hybrid solutions that would have not been accepted previously. The article tackles the development of theatre processes during the first period of emergency state in Latvia (March – June, 2020) and aims to document the experience of theatre forum organized at the beginning of November 2020 literally on the threshold of the second-wave related lockdown in culture. It aims to address to immediate impacts of Covid-19 to theatre ecosystem in Latvia and illustrate the ongoing way to inevitable changes in culture industry.
“History Research Commission” staged by Alvis Hermanis in New Riga Theatre (2019) is an example of post-truth coming onto the theatre stage in terms of a rather sensitive subject – historical traumas and unsolved issues that still influence today’s society in Latvia. Hermanis’s production accepts the post-truth as an inevitable and obvious present framework of modern thinking; meanwhile, the subject itself (“cheka bags”) implies the impossibility to find out any “truth” due to its distorted nature from the very beginning. “History Research Commission” paradoxically leads to conclude that the post-truth approach in theatre might be the most honest in terms of today’s world, where the truth has lost its previous status of value. The article covers the short history of “post-truth” analysed by Ralph Keyes, Lee McIntyre, and Yael Brahms. It aims to apply the notion to performing arts through the example of KGB’s experiences in Hermanis’s production (co-created with the actors of the New Riga Theatre) that seems to accept the post-truth and the tragedy of Western rationalism facing the impossibility to find out the provable truth regarding certain subjects. The message of absurdity to chase the truth in “cheka bags” confirms post-truth as the status quo of our time.
The article brings to the spotlight Latvian tenor Arthur Cavara (Artūrs Priednieks-Kavara, 1901–1979), one of the most outstanding Latvian operatic tenors of the 20th century in the context of his international career successfully developed in Germany in the 1930s. In both the recently established Latvian Republic and Europe, the interwar period was a very intensive and, at the same time, very contradictory time due to the historical conditions, social processes and political regimes, but it was also the time of opportunities when one of the centres of art life longed for by Baltic musicians was Berlin. Arthur Cavara was one of a few Latvian singers gifted with unique voice qualities, working capacity and a vast repertoire, who managed to develop a successful career on operatic stages in Berlin in a very short time, thus engraving his name in European opera history of the interwar period. In 1927 the young opera choir singer from Liepāja was not hired by Latvian National Opera, and he decided to go to Berlin to study vocal art with Louis Bachner (1882–1945). In a few years, Priednieks-Kavara developed a successful operatic career in Germany, becoming one of the leading tenors of Krolloper un Die Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, participating in guest performances in other countries, including South America, and finally, he was critically acclaimed in Latvia, too. The Second World War and related circumstances stopped the singer’s career at its peak, Cavara, together with his family, emigrated first to Germany, a well-known country to him, and afterwards to the USA, where he worked as a vocal coach and opera director. A great deal of facts regarding the life of Latvian tenors in Berlin was documented in letters published in Latvian press of the interwar period and autobiographical works by another opera singer and writer Mariss Vētra (1901–1965), who often met Cavara both in Germany and Latvia. The article traces the career of Cavara until the emigration in 1944.
Based on relevant examples, the article covers the main challenges faced by the opera genre during Covid-19 pandemic. In summer 2021, almost two concert seasons had passed, providing artists only partial opportunities to do their job, earn money and interact with their audiences. The impact of the pandemic produced in opera could be assessed only in a few years. However, outlining some effects today allows forecasting changes in cultural ecosystem that will influence the development of opera all over the world. The article analyses, firstly, the impact of downtime and interruption of creative processes based on relevant examples, and, secondly, reflects on changes in artistic, technical, technological, and show form issues observed during 2020/2021 season. The first part discusses such issues as reduced income, maintenance of professional form, the necessity of retraining and communication with audiences, meanwhile, the second part covers several opera productions made during the pandemic that reflect conditional changes in preparation, production, and end result. Because of challenges in researching the ongoing process, generalizing conclusions obviously would be a mistake, however the author the comes up presents with several ideas summarizing current challenges in the opera genre today.
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