Premiered in a 15th-century church, Aleksi Barrière's production of Benjamin Britten's opera Curlew River at the Urkuyö & Aaria Festival in Finland featured a continuous, ever-shifting "virtual glass painting" as its backdrop. In constant dialogue with the music and drama, and in close synch with the lighting, my digitally animated three-panel video offered abstract, associative images contributed to the performance's atmosphere and to the storytelling.

Premiered 31 August 2023 in Espoo, Finland

"Combining absorbing video projections, delicate lighting and befittingly subtle costumes, the stage imagery of Barrière, [lighting designer] Étienne Exbrayat and Lucia Schmidt was conceived with utmost insight, bridging the score and the venue together in organic manner."

– Jari Juhani Kallio, Adventures in Music

Tuomas Katajala, tenor (Crazy Woman)
Arttu Kataja, baritone (Lautturi)
Aarne Pelkonen, baritone (Matkamies)
Matti Turunen, bass (Apotti)
Onerva Merikanto, vocals & Otava Merikanto (Spirit of the boy) 

Choir:
Martti Anttila
Jarno Lehtola
Joonas-Ville Hietaniemi
Juhani Vesikkala
Greggory Haueter
Janne Helekorpi
Antti Villberg
Riku Laurikka

Antti Tikkanen, viola and music direction
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute
Tuomo Matero, double bass
Erno Toikka, french horn
Heikki Parviainen, percussions
Katri Tikka, harp
Petteri Pitko, organ

Direction: Aleksi Barrière
Lights: Étienne Exbrayat
Video: Lucia Schmidt
Set design and costumes: Aleksi Barrière & Étienne Exbrayat 

Curlew River

Visuals for opera staging

Premiered in a 15th-century church, Aleksi Barrière's production of Benjamin Britten's opera Curlew River at the Urkuyö & Aaria Festival in Finland featured a continuous, ever-shifting "virtual glass painting" as its backdrop. In constant dialogue with the music and drama, and in close synch with the lighting, my digitally animated three-panel video offered abstract, associative images contributed to the performance's atmosphere and to the storytelling.

Premiered 31 August 2023 in Espoo, Finland

"Combining absorbing video projections, delicate lighting and befittingly subtle costumes, the stage imagery of Barrière, [lighting designer] Étienne Exbrayat and Lucia Schmidt was conceived with utmost insight, bridging the score and the venue together in organic manner."

– Jari Juhani Kallio, Adventures in Music

Tuomas Katajala, tenor (Crazy Woman)
Arttu Kataja, baritone (Lautturi)
Aarne Pelkonen, baritone (Matkamies)
Matti Turunen, bass (Apotti)
Onerva Merikanto, vocals & Otava Merikanto (Spirit of the boy) 

Choir:
Martti Anttila
Jarno Lehtola
Joonas-Ville Hietaniemi
Juhani Vesikkala
Greggory Haueter
Janne Helekorpi
Antti Villberg
Riku Laurikka

Antti Tikkanen, viola and music direction
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute
Tuomo Matero, double bass
Erno Toikka, french horn
Heikki Parviainen, percussions
Katri Tikka, harp
Petteri Pitko, organ

Direction: Aleksi Barrière
Lights: Étienne Exbrayat
Video: Lucia Schmidt
Set design and costumes: Aleksi Barrière & Étienne Exbrayat