Galeria Quadrado Azul presents the project Hold Your Breath by Hugo Canoilas, Éna Brenann, and David Pountney, which will have its world premiere on 15 August at the Bregenezer Festspielehaus in Bregenz, Austria.
In a society where the individual’s life depends on the unemotional decisions of a selected few, a young woman tries to keep the memory of her grandmother alive. Suddenly, humankind faces some creature and is seized and changed by its movements. Some claim to have created this mysterious octopus-like being. How is this creature related to human beings, and do they have a hold on their lives?
Over several years, composer Éna Brennan, director and librettist David Pountney, and visual artist Hugo Canoilas worked together in the Opernatelier to create an opera for the Werkstattbühne. Right from the beginning, its main character is one of the most fascinating—and probably most intelligent—animals on this planet: an octopus. The singers’ voices and the dancers’ movements merge with the musicians whose sounds are electronically transmitted, thus creating a music theatre that engages all senses.
As a violinist and composer, Éna Brennan wanders between different worlds. In 2020, she became internationally known with her short opera Rupture as part of the 20 Shots of Opera at the Irish National Opera. The visual artist Hugo Canoilas is known for transforming galleries into walkable stages. Born in Lisbon, the multimedia artist is based in Vienna. David Pountney returns to Bregenz, where he left his mark on the Bregenzer Festspiele as artistic director from 2004 to 2014, with several productions on the Seebühne.
Hold Your Breath is a collaboration between Kunsthaus Bregenz and Bregenzer Festspielehaus, Bregenz, Austria.