Reviews

World Premiere
March 29, Karlsruhe, ZKM – Europäische Kulturtage 2012

 

...There is no doubt that with Three Mile Island Andrea Molino has chosen a more than delicate subject to once again provide further proof that literary fiction is not his domain. But how the composer confronts this venture is testament to his integrity and honesty. Molino does not reduce the complexity of this highly technical theme, does not break it down to music, video or theatre, he takes all three by the horns and allows it to grow into its own hybrid.
...With bizarre, harsh sonorities he guides Vergeiner's words, in order to pinpoint the morality of those responsible for the cover-up. Frantic breathing is heard, the whirring sound of clarinet and wild drum beats combine threateningly with video images of the people concerned. Here no whisper, no syllable is unnecessary. Everything is elemental, of higher meaning. ...This is the vortex into which Molino sucks his audience and in the end, probably only Johannes, the son of the deceased Ignaz Vergeiners, can resolve this. For even if the American High Court threw out the class action lawsuit of his father, one cannot avoid the fact: that this unambiguous piece of true art is clamouring for justice together with those who were trampled underfoot by those in power. And this alone gives the work irreplaceable, great value.
Markus Mertens, The Power of Honesty, Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 31.3.2012

Very detailed research and strong political messages, from which the composer Andrea Molino extracts a masterful piece of music theatre. This performance achieves something remarkable: it allows us to perceive with all our senses the hidden truth of Three Mile Island.
Ellen Hofmann, arte-tv, 30.3.2012



Italian Premiere Rome, May 21, 2012, Teatro India
 
What is surprising about "Three Mile Island", the beautiful opera by the composer Andrea Molino, is that, while telling a great tragedy, it allows room for hope. [...] And as the legendary figure of the Indians of Pennsylvania, Sky Woman (an intense Andrea Mirò), tells of a country that has lost its innocence, the sounds and voices of Klangforum Wien and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart envelop everything. [...] A final coup de théâtre brings us back to the present and the young Johannes Vergeiner, Ignaz's son, who bears witness to the hopes of good men.
Anna Cepollaro, Repubblica, 05.27.2012 

Indefinable in any traditional theatrical genre - and this is meant as a commendation - a staged concert given at the Teatro India in Rome (its Italian premiere), does not aim to make political accusation in the manner of Nono. The scientific reports of Vergeiner shout the bare truth with relentless condemnation of the sin identified by Jesus (Matthew 5-10): the persecution of the righteous. There is nothing better than the sound of a trumpet emerging from the welter of other instruments to suggest that deceit, in this excellent score composed by Andrea Molino with dramaturgy by Guido Barbieri. The list of superb things, both heard and seen, is long in this "Three Mile Island."
Giovanni Carli Ballola, L'Espresso, 22.6.2012

The theatrical action is well supported by the music of Andrea Molino, performed by musicians of Klangforum Wien, with vocal performances by the soloists of the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. ZKM Karlsruhe and Zurich University of the Arts developed the Multimedia, which is particularly successful in the development of the drama which gripped the audience emotionally - at the end of the work the audience erupted into loud, enthusiastic applause, calling authors and performers back to the stage several times.
Umberto Asti, teatro.org, 19.6.2012

The sonority of Klangforum Wien, other sounds, human and animal, of the wonderful Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, intruded on each other, overlapping, each with his own story, telling of the effect of the accident at the reactor and the resulting toxic cloud, all conveyed by the frightening interweaving of the voices of those poisoned. [...] Then the final declarations of the witnesses - those of the son of Ignaz Vergeiner - directed at the just. Throughout the performance the music dramatically encompassed the immense space.
Pao. Par., Il Tempo, 23.5.2012





 

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