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COMPANIONS OPERA

Companions Opera (1993-2011) was a private Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Companions Opera produced from 1993-2012 a 10 year running event called Opera in Ahoy in Rotterdam presenting some of the best-known opera titles in a “360 Degree" setting using the complete arena floor as stage. From 1998 till 2008 several of these productions were also presented in other cities.

History

In the early nineties there were initiatives in England and The Netherlands to present the most famous of all operas: Aida, in venues for indoor sports. Inspired by these initiatives Companions Opera and Ahoy Sportpaleis in Rotterdam started in 1992 a collaboration with the intention of developing a series of opera productions, presented yearly under the brand: ‘Opera in Ahoy’.

Companions Opera started officially in January 1994 with the double bill Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci in the “360 Degree" setting, a format which became the signature set-up for all future productions. It was a bold approach, because these two operas are not really well known titles like Carmen or Aida. Companions Opera believed that the following elements would make it work: . Two short operas with touching stories about love and revenge and with beautiful melodies that are pleasing to first time listeners as well; . With a set and staging concept created by Bernard Arnould and Bruno Stefano, that took the audience back to a small village in Sicily at the end of the 19th century; . With an experienced cast under tand conductor: Roberto Paternostro; . With the help of a large local chorus especially assembled for this production; . And about a hundred persons of all ages who filled the enormous space of the arena and added real-life scenes.

For reasons beyond their control, the start was difficult, but the positive reception by the media and the attending audience, presented the best publicity to announce Carmen (set and staging concept by Bernard Broca and Bernard Arnould) as the 2nd production for January 1995.

Months before the premiere of Carmen, all performances were sold-out and, again, the reception by media and public was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

Ahoy, part of the European Arena Association and Companions Opera started to invite arena managers to experience the concept and to discuss opportunities to bring productions abroad. Meanwhile Companions Opera selected as the third production Puccini’s final masterpiece Turandot (set and staging concept by Bernard Broca and Bernard Arnould). Followed in 1998 with Aida (set and staging concept by Petrika Ionesco and Bernard Arnould). In these 4 productions the audience was taken literally on a trip from Sicily to Seville - with the still existing old cigar factory facade as main part in the set, onwards to Asia - with the stone soldiers from Xian representing the ‘icy’ climate of Turandot’s regime, to finish in Egypt at the construction site of the Pharaoh’s Pyramid.

Companions Opera presented in 998 its first productions outside Ahoy Rotterdam; Aida in the Gelredome Arena in Arnhem and Carmen in the Sportpaleis Arena in Antwerp.

The final three Ahoy-productions, La Traviata, Nabucco (set and staging concept by Bernard Broca and Bernard Arnould) and Il Trovatore (set and staging concept by Craig Revel Horwood and Bernard Arnould), were approached from a more imaginative perspective. Instead of mirroring the ‘real’ world as was done in the earlier productions the teams were asked to develop concepts that would emphasise ‘the message’ of each opera. For instance in La Traviata (set and staging concept by Ken Caswell, Craig Revel Horwood and Bernard Arnould) the entire arena floor was covered with enlarged sheets of the original music score by Verdi. This vast emptiness underlined the loneliness of Violetta (soprano Stefania Bonfadelli) in the final act. It was for the first time that an ‘intimate’ opera was set on a big stage, without any gaudy special effect elements that are usually used to pep-up a scene and it ‘La Traviata throws Ahoy into ecstasies” (Rotterdams Dagblad).

The international breakthrough came 2001 with the planned opening of the new soccer stadium of Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The management of the stadium, in collaboration with the Neue Philharmonie and its conductor Johannes Wildner, planned several big opening events and for the classical event they selected the Aida production. Almost at the same timeCompanions Opera was approached by Stade de France in Paris to present Aida there as well. The original arena production was redesigned to fit in the largest stadiums imaginable. Both productions were performed within 2 weeks in September 2001 and were an enormous success, with the public as with the press.

During the same weeks Companions Opera produced also a special Rigoletto-production (staging and set by Bernard Broca) for the Rotterdam Cultural Capital City of 2001, set in backdrop of the harbour of Rotterdam.

After Aida Companions Opera developed and produced two more stadium productions, first Carmen in 2003 and in 2005 a new production of Nabucco (staging and set concept by Charles Roubaud and Emanuella Favre). The latter was subsequently also resized to be presented in arenas. From 2001 onwards the famous three opera’s (Aida, Carmen and Nabucco) brought Companions Opera to cities in Germany to Switzerland, Shanghai in China (Carmen) and back to Paris.

Due to the financial crises that started in 2008 and shortly thereafter the introduction of high quality streaming services with affordable ticket prices of operas from the MET and other opera houses to cinemas, our last production was the Paris stadium production of Nabucco in September 2008. http://companions.nl/en/index.php