THE EXTRAORDINARY TALES FROM TOWN OF MINDCERY 2022
On the cliff stands the city of Mindcery. Lifeless, without inhabitants. It is the dustiest place in the mind, where thoughts end up when they are deeply wounded. One might say that Mindcery is like a cemetery. A cemetery of the mind. Things happen there differently than usual. Perhaps that's why Katarina, Amelia, and Martina were drawn to Mindcery. So they could bite off what is necessary, jump when least expected, and find what seemed to be gone forever.
Short animated film in collaboration with NOACHO production and RTVS.
Direction: Veronika Trokšiarová, Zlata Golecová
Camera: Lukáš Peter Tóth
Edit: Oliver Bahúl
VFX: Patrik Szekács
Executive producer: Martin Drgoň
Cast: René Sorád, Michelle Dzamková, Ľuboš Janák, Patrícia Stehelová, Alžbeta Palanová, Anna Lehotská, Peter Lupták, Adela Dukátová
MILAN GUŠTAR: HARD RAIN
Generative opera for reciters, electronics, and a small orchestra.
Duration: 4 hours 20 minutes.
Performed by EnsembleSpectrum and members of Š.E.M. company, directed and scenography by Veronika Trokšiarová, artistic director and production by Matej Sloboda.
The composition is based on texts by American writer and researcher Charles Fort, who dedicated his life to collecting and processing information about unusual phenomena that occur around us and for which rational explanations cannot be found. The original version from 2002 was created for reciters and a group of live coders who generate music in real-time on computers according to the conductor's instructions.
The composer, acting as a sound engineer, also controls the mixing console and completes the final multichannel spatial sound. The visual component consists of actions by musicians and reciters on stage, complemented by synchronous video projection.
Reciters in the role of radio or television announcers read reports about unexplained falls of objects from the sky that occurred in the three hundred years before Charles Fort's death. The moments of the reciters' entries correspond to the times of the described events on a shortened time scale. Periods with the highest density of recorded events require the simultaneous presence of seven reciters.
For this performance, the musical component of the work was adapted into a pre-generated quadraphonic electroacoustic sound track, which forms the basis for the controlled improvisation of a group of string, wind, and percussion instruments.
The main themes of the project are ecology, sustainability, and species protection. The project also highlights less common forms of puppet theater in the nursery environment, especially object theater.
Performers: Katarína Turčinová, Stela Štancľová, Lujza Kýšková – flutes; Peter Ulmann – oboe; Barnabás Kollárik, Martina Lišková, Viktor Vojtas – clarinets; Emma Čölleová, Daria Rybalka, Pavol Gyurík – saxophones; Václav Kalivoda – trombone; Jozef Veselský, Štefan Szabó, Dalibor Kocián – electric guitars; Adam Hudec, Mikuláš Mrva – bass guitars; Júlia Stahl Novosedlíková, Matej Sloboda – pianos; Lenka Novosedlíková, Dalibor Kocián – marimba, vibraphones; Jakub Valíček – drum kit; Adam Szendrei, Natália Kubalcová – violin; Jakub Chlepko – viola; Andrej Gál – cello; David Šarkézi – double bass; Michaela Dzamková, Jerguš Horváth, Mário Houdek, Jakub Matejčík, Patrícia Stehelová, Michal Tomala, Veronika Trokšiarová – narrators; Matej Sloboda – artistic director, music production; Veronika Trokšiarová – direction, scenography, lights
