Postopera: The Stage Space of Composer and Director Creative Collaboration

Abstract

Relevance of the study. The nature of contemporary artistic processes necessitates an analysis of the specific forms of communication among participants involved in the preparation and presentation of a musical-stage work at various stages: the formulation of the director’s and scenographic concepts, the creation of the musical-literary text, and its transfer into the stage space.

The purpose of the article is to outline the specific features of creative interaction between the composer and the director in the development of musical-stage projects that belong to the phenomenon of postopera. Research methodology. The study is grounded in an interdisciplinary approach consistent with the nature of the phenomenon under investigation. The following methods are employed: structural-functional analysis; comparative methods (descriptive and analytical); and methods of systematization and typologization.

Results and conclusions. A classification of recent opera productions is proposed according to the director’s approach to the musical-literary text: the director as interpreter of the composer’s concept; the director as author of the opera production (Regieoper); and the director and composer as co-authors of the opera production (Postopera). It is noted that a distinct trend toward productions corresponding to the postopera mode began to take shape in the last third of the twentieth century and continues to develop. The creative principles of composer S. Silverman and director/librettist R. Foreman are outlined, and the features of the performance Elephant Steps (1968) are characterized. The genre-stylistic features and production contexts of the comedy post-rock opera What to Wear (2006; revival 2026) (R. Foreman in collaboration with composer M. Gordon) are examined. The example of F. Glass’s A Madrigal Opera («a work with an open ending») demonstrates the potential of unrealized theatrical projects. The synthesis of operatic genre possibilities and the performative resources of circus art in the creative tandem F. Glass—T. Björfors (Circus Days and Nights, 2021) is analyzed; mechanisms of intercultural communication between artists from the USA and Europe are identified, including through the activities of The Watermill Center founded by R. Wilson. It is argued that the postopera mode, now a significant component of contemporary theatre, manifests itself in experimental musical-stage projects distinguished by innovative creative solutions and modes of functioning, thereby expanding the boundaries of operatic art