Atman! | 8+

Opera Zuid, De Nationale Opera and the Nederlandse Reisopera present Atman!, a musical narrative that borders on the unbelievable.

Nine-year-old Atman gets lost in his own town. He has the key to his home in his pocket, but can't remember where he lives. On the street, he asks for advice. A man has no time ('Ask me again tomorrow'). A woman takes him along ('Youngsters like your are good matrons'). But Atman wants to go home, not across the ocean. What begins as a simple request ('Do you know which way I should go?') becomes a journey with detours and obstacles that sometimes seem - or no: are - insurmountable for a nine-year-old boy. Composer Leonard Evers and writer Bart Moeyaert shape this journey in music and language.

One-man orchestra

For Opera Zuid and De Nationale Opera, Evers previously wrote the children's opera Goud! This has been performed throughout Europe since 2012. His other operas include Odyssey and Kriebel (2+). In Atman!, Evers exploits all the possibilities of the accordion: the one-man orchestra and wandering instrument par excellence.

For this production, he collaborates with the award-winning writer Bart Moeyaert, known for novels such as Broere and Een ander leven. His literary oeuvre is internationally acclaimed and he has won, among others, the Flemish Culture Prize, the Woutertje Pieterse Prize and the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the highest honour in children's literature. The libretto of Atman! was also published in book form.

Atman! is directed by Annemiek van Elst, who has worked at various national and international opera houses. At Opera Zuid in 2022, Van Elst created and directed the staged Liederabend Eternal Road about the life of composer Kurt Weill.

Atman! lasts about one hour and is sung and spoken in Dutch.

DISCOUNTS As children go to the show for free, other discounts (such as early bird discount or gold grade discount) are not valid.