Libretto: José M. Sánchez-Verdú after a novella by Carlos Fuentes of the same name (1962)
Commissioned by "Musik der Jahrhunderte" Stuttgart, Neue Vocalsolisten, Festival "Musicadhoy" Madrid and the "Biennale di Venezia"

Place: Felipe's arrival (introduction), dining room (scenes 2, 4, 5), Consuelo's room (scenes 1, 3, 6, 11), kitchen/dining room (scene 7), Aura's room (scene 8), in the hallway (scene 9), Felipe's room (10)

Characters: Aura (lyrical soprano) Consuelo (mezzo soprano) Felipe (bass) 2 voices from the far (tenor, baritone)
Instruments: fl(picc.rec).Paetzold rec(more rec) B-tuba 2acc 2vl.va.vc.db auraphon (= live-elektronic)

The new chamber opera by Sánchez-Verdú is a sort theatre of the imagination. Aura represents a world in which it would be vain to try and discern the dimension of reality from that of fantasy. The author, with his usual narrative talent, invites the public to participate in the surreal technological game of Aura, which engages both acoustic and visual perception in equal measure. The music and stage action, both split in two by the live-electronics, reflect the illusory nature of time in the parallel reality of the technical world, mixing past, present and future to make them indistinguishable.

(La biennale di Venezia, 2009)


Bibliography:

Sánchez-Verdú, José M.: Schrift und Aura im Musiktheater, in: Neue Musik in Bewegung. Musik- und Tanztheater heute, hrsg. von Jörn Peter Hiekel (= Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt, Band 51), Mainz u.a.: Schott 2011, pp. 79-101.