Grammar of Dreams

Who hasn’t gotten lost in their own dreams at some point? What begins in a friendly atmosphere gradually turns gloomy and spirals into a labyrinthine nightmare scenario. What triggers it? What drives it? Are you fleeing or searching? Is there any escape? In the meanderings of the dream, the safe space is always just a breath away from the next startle. For the dream has its own logic. The great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who studied composition in Freiburg, has captured her exploration of the logic of dreams in a song cycle set to texts by Sylvia Plath. *From the Grammar of Dreams* is a work for solo voice and electronics in which Saariaho takes the opposite approach: beginning with dark visions, her exploration ends in the brightness of soothing daylight. For his pop-up opera, Sebastian Krauß, together with a solitary protagonist, treads the dream-laden path and adds pieces by other composers that are kindred in spirit to Kaija Saariaho’s music—to explore the realms evoked by dreams and then examine them in the light of day.