XYZ

In 2010, VCO entered the already abandoned “Lietuva” cinema and removed 23 tons of construction debris. After clearing the space, they presented their first opera and electronic fusion fantasy — XYZ.

The success of “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” made director Dalia Ibelhauptaitė realize that young people are able and willing to take interest in classical opera. All it takes is to find a suitable musical form for presenting opera to the younger generation in order to attract them and to further encourage their exploration of classical works. That’s how the idea, of choosing the most famous arias and duos familiar even to non-opera-goers and merge them with electronic sounds, was born. D. Ibelhauptaitė has always been interested in the synthesis of arts and the fusion of different musical cultures, because “on such crossroads emerge the most outstanding experiments, the most intensive energy and the most interesting ideas”.

Fate brought “Bohemians” together with the creators of electronic music “Silence Family“. The closest connection was established with two of its members Marijus Adomaitis (Ten Walls) and Leon Somov. They both had classical musical education, which helped them to better understand not only opera music itself, but also the principles of the opera singer’s work. Furthermore, Marijus and Leon were not only the first and the best in their field in Lithuania, but also had significant achievements in Europe and the whole world, just like many of the “Bohemians”. 

“XYZ” is a bold, ambitious and fearless project, focused on the idea of removing the orchestra and its classical sound and leaving only the main themes, thus giving the creators of electronic music the full freedom of reworking them. Most importantly, all of this had to be done in a way that would still leave the arias recognizable and possible to perform live during a concert. It was also a challenge for singers, who had already performed their arias hundreds of times, since those arias had to be re-learned from scratch, without a conductor or recognizable musical details. It was an opportunity to view and experience well known musical pieces from a completely new angle.

This entailed an interesting creative process, during which 36 different pieces were created. The project, in its various forms, has been performed about 50 times with a preference for abandoned, industrial locations which were given new lease of life. For the audience, the sound of re-worked opera music became a huge discovery and a revolution. “XYZ” expanded professional boundaries both for the creators of electronic music and the opera artists. The sound of their creations turned everything upside down as it surpassed even the greatest expectations. Furthermore, “XYZ” has attracted thousands of young people to classical opera. “Bohemians” themselves were surprised to see how after this project of electronic opera, other performances also received much more attention from younger audiences, never seen at the opera before. Those people came because they found “XYZ” interesting and wanted to see more.