/Voorpagina /Mensen /Nieuws /Opinie /Cultuur /Studentenleven /Achtergrond /English page /Onderzoek /Reportage /Bestuur /Ruis /Ranzigt /Colofon

/Faculteits Berichten /Vacatures /Mensa /Oude cursors /pdf formaat /TUE /Zoeken:

Jaargang 44, 27 september 2001 English page

Spooky opera in cellars of Laplace Something out of the ordinary is going on at the Laplace building. Haunting music is to be heard underneath all the noise of the renovation work on the ground floor. If you took the lift down to ­1 last week, you might have encountered people singing moving arias in a weirdly lit, labyrinthine décor. During the coming week, the renowned Dutch opera company 'Opera Zuid' will be performing an interpretation of Claudio Monteverdi's opera 'L'Orfeo' in the cellars of Laplace. This enormous space has fallen into disuse since TU/e's computers no longer need massive cooling facilities, but seems ideal as the basis of the set for this opera in which the main character has to travel down to hell to rescue his true love. Special effects For the price of a twenty guilder ticket (for students and Ph.D. students, forty guilders for TU/e staff), the audience may wander at will through an eerie rendering of Hades. The performance is based on the classical opera, but director Henk Schut sends his audience down into Hades along with his cast, choir and musicians. The action keeps moving around. There are only 150 tickets available for every performance, 75 for men and 75 for women. The opera will be sung in Italian, but the audience can easily follow the story through the acting and the special effects. Schut is secretive about this last aspect and is not planning to give anything away before the tonight's premiere. Schut has a lot of experience in directing opera in unlikely settings, mainly in the U.K. He has become fond of unusual locations, and has said they help him get to the original ideas behind theatre. "Here in the cellars of Laplace there is no way you can perform an opera traditionally. In a theatre you tend to do things in tried and tested ways. Here, I'm using the space to help me tell the story," says Schut. Oldest opera L'Orfeo, composed by Claudio Monteverdi in 1607, is seen as one of the first operas. It is unquestionably the oldest opera still being performed. At the time it was a very innovative piece, and according to Schut this makes it suitable for unconventional treatment even 400 years down the line. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is part of ancient Greek mythology. Orpheus is a great singer. He is wildly happy to be married to Eurydice when fate strikes. The lovely bride is bitten by a snake and dies. Orpheus cannot accept this and decides to travel down to Hades to get her back. He enchants the gods with his singing and wins her safe passage to the other side. There is only one condition. Eurydice must follow him, and Orpheus is forbidden to look back during the whole return trip. The premiere of L'Orfeo at TU/e is on September 27. Other performances on September 28, 29, 30 and October 2. All at 8 p.m. Matinees are planned for September 30 and October 3. Tickets are available from Studium Generale (040 247 49 00) or the Stadschouwburg, the city theatre, (040 211 11 22)./.

Street wise in European universities Willemien Fraaije, TU/e's humanist student counsellor, is publishing a book in Dutch and English this week on her travels to European universities. She has brought together an interesting series of impressions of her visits to various universities over the years. These visits have, she says, turned into a veritable Grand Tour. "I was lucky in that I could accompany my husband Johan van der Sanden, on his trips to education conferences all over Europe. Quite quickly, I felt the need to talk to the students and university staff I met about their lives. Writing it all down was a natural follow-up", she explains. The book is entitled 'L'Université, c'est la rue, a report on a Grand Tour of European student cities'. The French part of the title was supplied by a cabby in Paris, who told Fraaije that the street is the best place to get an education. Her travels took her to Berlin, Lyon, Athens, Dublin, Nancy, Göttingen, Seville and Bologna. Berlin is a recurring theme, Fraaije visited that city various times after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The book closes with a description of the European Week held at TU/e in April of this year. "Even if the book is finished, I plan to keep on travelling. My interest in European student life is undiminished, if anything it has increased. Next year I'll hopefully be visiting Padua, Reykjavik and Göteborg", declares Fraaije. 'L'Université, c'est la rue' will be presented at a book party on Thursday September 27 from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. on floor ­1 in TU/e's main building. After the first copy is presented to TU/e's secretary ir. Harrie Roumen, there will be drinks and live music. This last will be supplied by the Irish band Tinkers, Drinkers and Dreamers and by student music association La Tuniña. AEGEE, BEST, Mosaïc and International Student Network, all foreign student organisations on floor ­1, are holding an open house on this occasion. Any TU/ers interested are welcome to come to both the book party and the open house./.

TU/e takes part in Coins for Care TU/e is participating in the 'Coins for Care' collection. This organisation is using the occasion of the introduction of the euro to collect European coins and bank notes for various good causes. Collection boxes will be placed at six locations on campus as of Monday October 1. Staff and students are requested to donate their spare francs, pesetas, pfennigs and other currency. The boxes are to be found at the main building's reception desk, in the Sports Centre, restaurants in Paviljoen, Traverse, Auditorium and W-hoog. The boxes will remain in place until February 2002. The collection will be divided among good causes to be chosen by the generous givers. Make your preference known at www.nederlandvoorhetgoededoel.nl. Foreign currency TU/e is one of many thousands of companies, stores, banks and other organisations in the Netherlands who are taking part in the campaign. The collections of foreign currency at TU/e is being organised by Internal Affairs Services together with the Ex-change foundation. This foundation is part of Coins for Care and represents the whole education sector./.