Thomas Oliemans in Amsterdam world premiere

Laika and Thomas Oliemans

Dutch barihunk Thomas Oliemans is starring in the world premiere of Martijn Padding's new opera Laika at the Dutch National Opera in a co-production with the Holland Festival 2014.

Martijn Padding and librettist P.F. Thomése poke fun at the superficiality of ratings-obsessed television programs. Oliemans stars as Robbert, a famous TV personality who is tired of his fame and popularity and his superficial life.

Behind the scenes at Laika with Martijn Padding & Thomas Oliemans: 

Robbert still lives with his domineering mother, who keeps the embalmed body of his father on display in the living room. He dreams of abandoning TV and aspires to a more peaceful life with personal privacy.  Since his early youth he has immersed himself in the cosmos. After meeting astronaut Yuri Gagarin and a Laika, the first living animal to be sent into space, Robbert decides to embark on his own journey into space.

Performances run from June 3-8 and tickets are available online.

Barihunks Alternate Soldier Songs in D.C. and Holland Festival

Composer David T. Little's Soldier Songs seems to be finding a foothold in the contemporary repertory, as it is being reprised in Washington D.C. this weekend with barihunk David Adam Moore.

Soldier Songs is an evening-length multimedia event that combines elements of theater, opera, rock-infused-concert music, and animation to explore the perceptions versus the realities of the Soldier, the exploration of loss and exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of expressing the truth of war. The performance is further enhanced with video and film from Bill Morrison.

The libretto, created by the composer, was adapted from recorded interviews with veterans of five wars.  Soldier Songs traces the shift in perception of war from the age of 6 to the age of 66. The story follows the abstract character through the three phases of life:  Youth (playing war games) Warrior (time served in the military) and Elder (aged, wise, reflective).

There is one remaining performance at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on Sunday, May 18 and tickets are available online. The production then travels to the Holland Festival with Christopher Burchett as the soldier for a double-bill with Nico Muhly's Spiral Mass. Tickets are available online.