Da gelo a gelo is an opera in 100 scenes (some lasting as little as 3') by Salvatore Sciarrino

Salvatore Sciarrino

Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...

. The composer's Italian libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 is based on one year (1002-3) and 65 poems from the journal of Izumi Shikibu

Izumi Shikibu

was a mid Heian period Japanese poet. She is a member of the . She was the contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu, and Akazome Emon at the court of Joto Mon'in.-Early life:...

 encompassing her affair with Prince Atsumishi.

The opera was a co-commission of the Schwetzingen Festival

Schwetzingen Festival

The Schwetzingen Festival is an early summer festival of opera and other classical music presented each year from May to early June in Schwetzingen, Germany....

, the Grand Théâtre de Genève  and the Opéra National de Paris and premiered in the Schlosstheater Schwetzingen

Schlosstheater Schwetzingen

Schlosstheater Schwetzingen is a theater in Schwetzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The historic building, opened in 1753, is part of the Schwetzingen Castle and since 1952 the principal venue of the Schwetzingen Festival. It is also called Hoftheater , Hofoper , and Comoedienhaus...

 under the German title Kälte on May 21, 2006. The choreography for the singers by Trisha Brown

Trisha Brown

Trisha Brown is a postmodernist American choreographer and dancer.Brown was born in Aberdeen, Washington, and received a B.A. degree in dance from Mills College in 1958. Brown later received a D.F.A. from Bates College in 2000. For several summers she studied with Louis Horst at the American Dance...

 was retained for the 2007 Paris production at the Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

. The piece lasts 110 minutes.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast (Conductor: Tito Ceccherini)
Izumi	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Anna Radziejewska
The Prince's nurse/ Izumi's maid	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Ulrike Mayer
Izumi's page	contraltino Sopranist A sopranist is a male singer who is able to sing in the vocal tessitura of a soprano usually through the use of falsetto vocal production. This voice type is a specific kind of countertenor...	Felix Uehlein
The Prince's page	counter-tenor	Michael Hofmeister
The Prince	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Otto Katzameier

Instrumentation

The instrumentation

Instrumentation (music)

In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...

 is S, Ms, 2 Ct, Bar / 3 (II Fl.c in Sol, III Fl.b). 3 (III C.i). 3 (III Cl.b). 2 / 2. 3. 2. -. / Perc / strings

String section

The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...

 (min. 10. 8. 6. 4. 4.)

External links

• 1627 Score published by Rai Trade, Rome
• interview with Sciarrino (in French)
• review of premiere in Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  The Neue Zürcher Zeitung is a major German language Swiss daily newspaper based in Zurich.One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as Zürcher Zeitung, edited by Salomon Gessner, from January 12, 1780, and was renamed to Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 1821...
  
  
• review of booed Paris opening by Jorg von Uthmann (English)
• contrasting review from Libération
  Libération
  Libération is a French daily newspaper founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Originally a leftist newspaper, it has undergone a number of shifts during the 1980s and 1990s...