P R O J E C T S
SYNPHONIC ROCK OPERA SNOWWHITE
Preview
The team
Andreas Xaver Schwarz, born 1953, first trained as a secondary school teacher specializing in music. He then studied singing and choral conducting at the Academy of Music at Basel. In addition to teaching, the focus was on productions of plays and musicals, composing diverse music genres and writing books (specialist literature, fiction, novels, etc.). Schwarz founded and directed the chamber choir of the Basel Music Academy and the Mädchenkantorei Basel. At present, all his creative power is devoted to new works of the genre "symphonic rock opera".
George Fleury, born 1945, belongs because of his musical competence and playful virtuosity to the musician elite. He began his musical career at the age of 7 with piano lessons under Ernst Pfiffner, the contemporary composer and director of the Lucerne Academy of Music. In addition to classical music, George has always had a weakness for underground music, jazz, funk and crossover. As a concert organist, he won international awards. This was followed by a 30-year collaboration as a music lecturer with the world music group YAMAHA. His compositional work is currently the "Symphonic Rock Opera Snowwhite".
Raitis Grigalis, the composer from Basel, singer and conductor was born in 1975 in Riga. He enjoyed the first steps of his musical education in the choir school of Riga Cathedral. At the Music Academy Riga he received diplomas in conducting and composition. He studied sing-ing in Basel and composition for film, theater and media at the Zurich University of the Arts. His compositional hori-zons, however, extend far beyond the classical range, i.a. to blues, jazz, pop and musical. He wrote choral songs, two gospel fairs and cantatas, as well as a Christ-mas Oratorio, premiered in 2016 in Basel. Grigalis is currently involved as a com-poser in the project "Sym-phonic rock opera Snowwhite".
Authors libretto and composition
Libretto and idea : Andreas Xaver Schwarz
Composers: George Fleury, Raitis Grigalis, Andreas Xaver Schwarz
Form and orientation
The work consists of two acts with a total of 34 individual scenes.
The total duration is two hours.
The stage work ist conceived in his libretto as well as in his compositions as a stage work for orchestra, rock band, soloists, choir, dance an statistery.
The work SNOWWHITE should appeal to a very wide audience.
Music
The „symphonic rock opera SNOWWHITE/Schneewittchen“ is unique in itsmusical form, even if successful works such as „Tommy“, „Fairies“ or „Jesus Christ Superstar“ describe themselves as a rock opera.
SNOWWHITE combines with a symphony orchestra and a rock band (rock orchestra) many elements of traditional opera, style elements of rock music of the 70s to 90s, but also elements of classical program music,
resp. Film music. Consciously, the compositions sometimes use traditional folk elements to do justice to the story of a fairy tale for young and old
people.
In the musical implementation of the score is also a combination of electronically recorded and live-played instrumental parts conceivable (cost issue).
Contrary to conventional musicals, SNOWWHITE distinguishes itself on the one hand by the classical vocals of the soloists and the choral parts, on the other hand, the stage work is characterized by a narrative role in the sense of recitatives.
