One Minute World Arts- The Paradis Files: An Opera Exploring a Blind Musician’s Life

The Paradis Files: An Opera Exploring a Blind Musician’s Life

Founded in 1980, Graeae Theatre Company is a British organization composed of deaf and disabled artists and theatre practitioners that has pioneered in experimental and visionary work of high quality. In April 2022, the company presented The Paradis Files, an opera composed by Errollyn Wallen and directed by Graeae’s artistic director Jenny Sealey, at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, in collaboration with a chamber ensemble from the BBC Concert Orchestra. The plot of the opera is based on the life stories of Maria Theresia von Paradis, an 18-century Austrian music talent, known as “the Blind Enchantress”.

Despite the fact that Von Paradis achieved great success in music, her life and work are rather unfamiliar to today’s music lovers. Von Paradis turned completely blind at the age of 3, but, through her virtuosic techniques as a singer and a pianist, she managed to impress musicians and audiences not only locally but also all over Europe. Famous composers such as Mozart, Salieri, and Haydn possibly composed for her, and herself was also a prolific composer who gradually became more dedicated to composition than performance. This year, with efforts made by Graeae, the extraordinary life of Von Paradis finally got to be staged and appreciated. During performances, service including captioning, #AudioDescription, and #BSL (British Sign Language) was also provided to deaf or visually impaired theatre-goers for their benefit of enjoying the show.

 

《派樂蒂檔案》：樂壇「盲魔女」的讚歌

創立於1980年的格雷埃劇團（Graeae Theatre Company），是英國境內以#聾啞和#殘疾人士為核心成員的先驅性表演團體，努力打造高品質的演出，並持續開創藝術的新視野。今年四月，該團在藝術總監珍妮・希莉（Jenny Sealey）的帶領下，與BBC音樂會管弦樂團所屬之室內樂團合作，在倫敦伊莉莎白女王音樂廳，推出由艾洛琳・瓦倫（Errollyn Wallen）譜曲的歌劇《派樂蒂檔案》（The Paradis Files），將18世紀奧地利音樂奇才、別稱「盲魔女」的瑪麗亞・泰瑞希雅・馮・派樂蒂（Maria Theresia von Paradis）生平故事，介紹給觀眾認識。

儘管派樂蒂在音樂方面成就斐然，但於當今世上卻鮮為人知。年幼失明的她，憑藉著精湛的歌唱及鋼琴演奏技藝，風靡樂界；據聞，莫札特、薩里耶利和海頓等知名作曲家，都曾經為她譜寫樂曲。此外，派樂蒂本人也勤於創作，因而寫出數量頗豐的作品。如今，透過格雷埃劇團的聚焦呈現，她非凡的生命經歷得以被觀眾細細品味；而該團也一本其深具人文關懷的專業精神，於演出現場提供字幕、#導聆口述，以及#英式手語等服務，讓視障與聽障人士，也能欣賞這齣以「盲魔女」為本的歌劇。

Sources:
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/the-paradis-files-review-the-stables-milton-keynes-graeae
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/maria-theresia-von-paradis-blind-pianist-singer-composer/
https://graeae.org/our-work/the-paradis-files/

Photo Credit:
Patrick Baldwin, Marilyn Kingwill