Svadba/Wedding: Alternately Playful and Haunting

Before the performance began, Ana Sokolovic came up on stage to say a few words. Some of those words included “please don't follow along in your program”. Not that she needed to worry. The program is in English, the opera is in Serbian, I would never know which words were which.

The text for Svadba/Wedding is taken from Serbian poetry, different poems from different geographical areas for each stage in the pre-wedding ritual. A thematic, rather than linear story.

Speech is so given to percussion if you let it be and the performers seamlessly (it seemed to me) moved between text and nonsense sounds (which are sometimes more eloquent). This opened up a playful, tactile approach to the language, freeing the performers from literal bounds as they engaged with each other and the audience.

The six female vocalists are lively and expressive with strong, clear voices. Their availability to the text and to the music ensures that the emotional story is clear. There were times where I had to close my eyes to fully appreciate the more haunting or ethereal phrases, but the cheeky, comedic parts were definitely enhanced by the animated participation of the performers.

I wish I had more to say on this, but music is so experiential. Ana Sokolovic's Svadba/Wedding is a unique experience.