Michiel Braam's Nopera

Nopera toured Europe in 2007. It was meant to be a once-only project, but if someone really wants to see it again... You never know!

NOPERA is not really an opera. It combines references to opera with a lot of improvisation.
The performance consists of a series of compositions that serve as elements with which to build the whole piece, which can be structured in a different way every time. The libretto is written in a fantasy language, which the singers can use in any way they want.
The compositions may appear in every possible shape, sometimes slow and very soft, sometimes fast and wild. They can be interrupted, evolve into an improvisation or into another composition, or just be ignored. Working like this gives the singers and musicians the chance to develop their own ideas, to tell their own story, and to give a different direction to the concert every time.

VOICES
Lucia Meeuwsen is a classically trained mezzo soprano, who is very well known in classical and contemporary music.
Vera Westera is familiar with many different musical genres, from pop music to jazz.
Sean Bergin is mainly known as saxophonist and bandleader, but he likes to sing as well. In his work one can hear the musical traditions of his native country South-Africa and the home of his ancestors: Ireland.

STRINGS
Zapp String Quartet (Oene van Geel and Friedmar Hitzer - violin and viola; Jasper Le Clercq – violin; Jörg Brinkmann - cello) is an extraordinary string quartet. To the classical string quartet tradition Zapp adds percussion techniques and a groovy way of playing, which enables them to sound like a heavy rock band, a bulgarian folkgroup or a bebopping jazz band.

PIANO/BASS/DRUMS
Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher is Michiel Braam – piano, Wilbert de Joode - double bass and Michael Vatcher – drums. The band comprises three of the Dutch jazz scene's most idiosyncratic musicians. They all play an absolutely equal role in the music, which can go in any which way, depending on decisions made on the spot.