Ensemble Adapter

Kristjana Helgadóttir> flute

Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson> clarinet

Andreas Voss > violoncello

Soojin Anjou > piano

Matthias Engler > drums

Filippo Andreatta > performer

Davið Brynjar Franzson> composition and electronics

Davyde Wachell > stage direction and video

Hrefna Hörn Leifsdóttir >  assistance

Halldór Úlfarsson > stage set

Angela Rawlings > text

Longitude is an exploration of the contradictory identities Hero/Traitor/Colonizer/Liberator - that an individual occupies when his actions are viewed from different ideological perspectives. It explores how the breach between internal and societal ethics cause dissonance between these perceived identities, and how languages/taxonomies create conflicting identities that name what is seen and felt in a process of colonization.

Described by the Los Angeles Times as sonically imaginative ... colonial and landscape driven ... part installation, all mood, longitude discards preconceived notions of the theater, immersing the audience inside the piece as it unfolds. A narrative slowly emerges as sounds, actions and images territorialize the space in-between and around the audience.

The overall feel of the piece is part installation and part stage-work. The music, staging, video and lighting all go together to communicate the subject matter of the opera rather than relying on traditional theatrical or text-based means. Rather than present the topic as a historic essay, colonization and ideological failure are explored as process, action and physical material.

During the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the royal Danish watchmaker gave his son - Jorgen Jorgensen - a ship to fight the English

At first opportunity, the son - a devoted anglophile - surrendered to the English.

Under house arrest in London, he convinced an English merchant to break the Danish trade monopoly on its colony Iceland.

On arrival in Reykjavik - discovering mass starvation from the trade monopoly - he captured the Danish governor and declared himself protector of the island. His reign lasted 40 days.

Supported by the Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department