The Witches Seed
Teatro Tones on the Stones
The Witches Seed
STEWART COPELAND
Premiere: 22/23 July 2022
Director: Manfred Schweigkofler
Musiche di STEWART COPELAND
Libretto di JONATHAN MOORE
Partner creativo CHRISSIE HYNDE
Regia di MANFRED SCHWEIGKOFLER
Video scenografie di EDVIGE FAINI
Direttore d’orchestra EIMEAR NOONE
Coreografie VALENTINA VERSINO
Special guest: IRENE GRANDI
The Witches Seed is a contemporary opera with an immersive stage design, inspired by the documented trials of the most brutal Inquisition and the fascinating legends of Central European mountain cultures. It employs the most innovative digital technologies, capable of fully immersing the audience in a dark and intense spectacle.
In a time of economic, social, political, and spiritual crisis—brought on by the spread of the plague and the rise of new faiths and heresies—four women take us on a journey through witchcraft, persecution, and diabolical schemes.
This experience transports bodies and senses through time and across the entire Alpine arc. Magic, storms and lightning, men transforming into animals through dark forces, the preparation of medicines and ointments, and wild, orgiastic sabbaths—these are the powerful tools witches and sorcerers use to defy the beliefs, knowledge, and rituals imposed by religious authorities for centuries. Yet these tools are not powerful enough to save countless men and women from atrocious torture, the stake, or the gallows—victims whose numbers, according to some historians, reach into the millions in Europe alone.
The music for The Witches Seed is composed by Stewart Copeland, founder of The Police. With a career spanning over 60 million records sold and five Grammy Awards, Copeland has also composed film scores, including Wall Street by Oliver Stone and Rumble Fish by Francis Ford Coppola.
The libretto is written by the award-winning British playwright Jonathan Moore, renowned for his work in theater, film, and the BBC, including the celebrated Treatment starring Gabriel Byrne.
Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde, leader of the legendary band The Pretenders, has contributed several songs to the opera, performed by Irene Grandi—a further highlight of this extraordinary production. Grandi lends her voice and passionate spirit to the role of the protagonist, Isabetta.
The production is directed by Manfred Schweigkofler, an artist capable of navigating and interpreting diverse artistic languages through extraordinary creativity and innovation.
