Kerstin Perski

opera, music drama, libretto, dramaturgy, collaborative processes
en

Active as playwright, librettist and writer since the 1990’s, both in Sweden and internationally. Through the years I have written more than a dozen plays. During the last twentyfive years I have been working extensively with music drama and have written several opera librettoes for new operas, both for adults and children. In these I have collaborated with several of the most renown Swedish, Danish, Japanese and Icelandic composers. 

Most recently my adaptation of Susanne Bier’s film Brothers into an opera libretto with music by Daniel Bjarnason, premiered in Aarhus in 2017. It was also performed at the Icelandic Opera in 2018 and was awarded a Reumert for “Opera of the year” in Copenhagen in 2018. The opera took part in the Armel festival in Budapest in July 2019.

Two new operas with librettos by me are in the pipelines. In july 2020 The Zebra will be staged at Vadstena Akademien. The music is composed by Tebogo Monnakgotla. In february 2021, Mythomania with music by Paula af Malmborg Ward will be premiering at Göteborgsoperan in Gothenburg. 

research

research expositions

  • The poetics of enlivening. Searching for the music drama "Borderlands" (2020) author(s): Kerstin Perski published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
    From the librettist’s perspective, the traditional working methods which tend to dominate in the creation of new music drama, often result in a situation where the initial intentions are lost along the way. How can we get away from a rigid methodology, where the different professionals involved in the creation of new music drama have to succumb to a procedure which can be likened to a whispering game? A procedure, where the dramatic content, rather than undergoing an emotional enrichment in its transformation into music, often loses the crucial connections to the initial intentions. This doctoral project aims to reach beyond the whispering game by seeking alternative working methods in the creation of a new music drama with the working title "Borderlands", circling around the subject matter of flight and borders - inner as well as outer. The research identified cross–border methods which, borrowing from the terminology of Martin Buber, can be seen as an attempt to counteract the “I–It” relationship that often results from the genre’s focus on virtuosity. The results might inspire further attempts to find alternative working methods which could ultimately create a stronger “I–Thou” relationship between the performance and the audience.
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