ÊTES—VOUS
AMOUREUX ?

Êtes-vous amoureux ?

This creation of the Opéra national de Lorraine brings together international artists invited to express their vision of Nancy: the sound director Chloé Kobuta (France), the composer Paul Brody (United-States), the stage director Kevin Barz (Germany), with the help of the stage director David Marton (Hungary).

“Are you in love?”, is the indiscreet question Chloé Kobuta asked the people of Nancy. From the summer of 2019 to the winter of 2020, she walked the streets of Nancy, collecting amusing, sad, tragic, tender, passionate, trivial or unusual stories from those whose paths she crossed: night birds haunting the streets of the Old Town, octogenarians dancing in the Pépinière park, taxi drivers navigating the boulevards, old ladies shopping at the supermarket or young mothers walking their children…

From the sound booklet formed by these recordings, Paul Brody wrote his score: this composer has made the spoken word his playground. He is interested in the invisible music that hides beneath our every phrase: that intimate melody that reveals our emotional state, our origins, our past travels or our family history. His music catches the soul of a city.

These love stories were then reinterpreted across the city - in a deserted brewery, under a bus shelter, in a laundromat, at the swimming pool, in a car park or at the Bowling Alley - by four soloists, directed and filmed by Kevin Barz. The lyrics have not been rewritten or altered: they are rendered in their raw state, with their intrinsic music and everyday poetry. True to their original documented recordings.

While the health crisis has dispossessed us of public space, Êtes-vous amoureux ? offers anonymous stories, scenes of love life that make up the opera of a city.