Before I Die
For the Rotterdam O. Festival in 2017 Mart directed Before I Die, after a musical concept by Lies Colman. In the performance, characters from the opera’s Madame Butterfly by Puccini and Norma by Bellini meet each other in a hallucinative reliving of their romantic past. Colman adapted arias from both operas for a chamber music ensemble and Anna Maria Versloot wrote a new tekst for the male antagonist. Through song, fights and heated conversation, the characters search for reconciliation with the cruel fate that brought them love as well as death.
Before I Die was coproduced by I Solisti Belgian Wind Ensemble Antwerp.
Director: Mart van Berckel
Text: Anna Maria Versloot
Musical direction: Lies Colman
Performance: Laura Bohn, Astrid Stockman, Reinier Demeijer
Music: Nele Delafonteyne, Lieve Goossens, Lieselot Watté, Diechje Minne, Lisa Blok, Doriene Marselje
Scenography: Vera Selhorst
Costumes: Dymph Boss
Dramaturgy: Peter te Nuyl
© Erik Franssen
© Erik Franssen
© Erik Franssen
© Erik Franssen




© Erik Franssen
© Erik Franssen
© Erik Franssen
© Erik Franssen
“A perfect mix of spoken dialogue and opera.”
Operamagazine