Experience a curious and humorous dystopia in which seven roommates move into “Lisbon Floor,” a failed luxury high-rise. The opera LISBON FLOOR was premiered at the Copenhagen Opera Festival in 2022, where it became a major success with both critics and audiences. The following year, LISBON FLOOR won a Reumert Award for Opera of the Year.
It is a horror-comedy drama inspired by the ghost-story writer Shirley Jackson, Mozart’s comedies of entanglement, and the computer game The Sims.
Seven people move into an apartment in an underfunded luxury building. It soon becomes clear that the apartment is infected by evil forces, manifested as faces of mold and fungus on the walls. Under the influence of these mysterious faces, both characters and plot develop in a bizarre, comic, and at times bloody direction - but there are also quiet moments and love in the air. Ultimately, the opera is about finding a sense of community and creating a home in hostile surroundings.
In this concert version, excerpts from the opera are presented that focus on the development of the character Artemisia. Along the way, she falls in love with one of the other residents and declares her feelings in a passionate email, uncertain whether he will return them. She also discovers that the uncle who has caused her terrible harm is present in the apartment - leading to confrontations with both men. Artemisia is sung by Sophie Haagen, who won a Reumert Talent Award for her performance.
Running parallel to this story, we follow the couple Alex and Alex and the creature they are incubating in an artificial womb. Two of the residents, Daphne and Gene, are corrupted by the evil forces and attempt to steal the womb.
Listen to our Kunstpauser podcast episode about Lisbon Floor.
Time and place
LISBON FLOOR is performed twice on 15 January, at 17.30 and 20.00 at Takkelloftet, The Royal Danish Opera.