Sol io

An interdisciplinary exploration of lost love.

Sol io is the first production of Vox Æterna integrating singing and dancing with virtual environments and characters created with videos, lighting, and surround-sound design. The complete piece tells a chronologically-broken narrative of lost love.

Claudio Monteverdi’s ‘Zefiro Torna’ begins the performance with reminiscences of a relationship’s playfulness and joy. The pre-recorded tenor duet is complimented by a dance duet between the live performer and video. ‘Zefiro Torna’ is interrupted by ‘Sol io’ which continues Ottavio Rinuccini’s sonnet and suddenly reverts the protagonist back to his reality of solitude and fear. Szymon Brzóska’s ‘Hor canto’ concludes the narrative by setting the final two words of the poem and leads to the protagonist discovering consolation in singing. The performance concludes with the underlying narrative’s beginning in which it becomes clear that the lover was betrayed. In this piece he wanders aimlessly filled with despondency and anger.

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