Transcryptum

About

Transcryptum is a site-specific opera-installation that rejects the traditional separation of stage and auditorium. Its parts are installed across backstage spaces of the Grand Theatre building—such as the painting workshop, laundry, and the choir rehearsal room—where simultaneous musical actions unfold. The audience is divided into five groups and guided along designated routes, experiencing the architecture’s acoustic resonance at close range. The overarching theme is trauma, translated into a language of sounds and images that highlight fragmentation, alinear temporality, and the persistence of memory. The title refers to Bracha L. Ettinger’s concept of an art object that incarnates the transcription of trauma. Musically, the work is written for a highly reduced ensemble of seven instrumentalists and a soloist, whose parts converge only in the final act. The intimacy of the chosen spaces fosters a heightened, tactile reception of sound through the unique acoustics of each room.