PUSH er en opera inspirert av den sanne historien om Simon Gronowski. Historien bygger på flere beretninger fra mennesker som har gjennomlevd flyktning- og fangestatus, fra middelalderen frem til vår tid.  

Vi møter Simon rett etter at han har vært i møte med et forlag, som ønsker at han skriver en bok om sin historie. Da han var 10 år gammel, dyttet hans mor han av et tog som var på vei til Auschwitz. Han måtte løpe for sitt liv og overlevde, men hans mor og søster ble drept.  

Simon har hele livet holdt sin opplevelse for seg selv, så før han bestemmer seg for å formidle historien sin videre, må han møte den selv. Idet Simon stilles ansikt til ansikt med sin egen fortid, spiller minnene hans seg til liv på scenen. Det oppstår bilder og situasjoner som kan gjenkjennes fra fortiden, men også fra nyhetsbildet i dag, der en gruppe mennesker undertrykker “de andre”.     – En tidløs ondskap.  

Hvordan kan vi, på tross av de mørke delene i verdenshistorien, tro på menneskets godhet?

Ringsaker bibliotek og Ringsaker kirkeakademi har i anledning RingsakerOperaens oppsetning av PUSH en foredragsserie med tilgivelse og forsoning som tema:
Unnskyld, i kjærlighetens navn / 15. februar  kl 19:00, Ringsaker bibliotek Brumunddal
Min skam / 29. februar kl 18:00, Moelv Kulturhus
En konsert om sannhet og forsoning / 7. april kl 18:00, Brumunddal kirke
Tre religioners syn på tilgivelse og forsoning / 6. juni kl 19, Ringsaker bibliotek Brumunddal (i samarbeid med RingsakerOperaen)

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Forestillingen varer ca 1 time og 15 min, ingen pause.
Etter forestilling er det mulig å møte og å stille spørsmål til medvirkende og Simon Gronowski.
På premieren vil også kultur- og likestillingsminister Lubna Jaffery si noen ord.

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I first met Simon Gronowski in Brussels in 2014. Whilst telling me his story he said “ma via n’est que miracles”. Struck by his joy and gratitude for life despite the horrors that he had experienced, I asked him to write the phrase down on a scrap of paper, put it in my pocket and promised him that I would write my next opera on his story. The result was PUSH, commissioned by the Battle Festival in collaboration with Glyndebourne Opera in 2016. It has since received six different productions in the UK and in Brussels, including a London performance in the House of Commons to politicians from all parties. It was also the subject of debate in Prime Minister’s question time. Thanks to Kari Elisabet Bekken’s response to the piece in 2020 it now receives its first performance in Norwegian translation.

Kari felt that it was important for a Norwegian audience to have an opportunity to experience PUSH. In October 2021, she travelled to Belgium to hear the performance a couple of kilometres from where Simon had jumped off the train in 1943. We visited La Caserne Dossin in Mechelen together, where Simon had been imprisoned with his mother and sister and then transported directly to Auschwitz. Convoy 20 was the only train to have been stopped by the resistance – consisting of three courageous Belgian teenagers.

The next stage was for Kari to ask Eve-Marie Lund to translate my libretto. I met her in Strasbourg where we had an inspiring conversation about the specific meanings and resonances of particular words and phrases. With Liv Astrid Dahl’s help, we made a score that adapted the rhythms of some of the sung phrases to make them fit the new Norwegian text. It is always thrilling to hear my music sung in a different language and it sounds great in Norwegian!

Kari’s connection to the piece was infectious.  She put together a fantastic creative team to work on the Ringsakeroperaen production and gave the cast the opportunity to work with the orchestra in an early rehearsal, rather than having to wait until the final days to get an impression of the whole score. The spirit of the rehearsal process has been a harmonious integration of the many different disciplines that are involved in an opera production and it has been a pleasure to be part of it.  As the different professional and community groups journeyed further into the heart of the piece, working together has been a mirror of the final message of optimism that lies at the core of the story: “to live in the present and the future, for optimism, joy and friendship”.

Throughout the rehearsal process, the story has felt increasingly poignant in the light of so many contemporary accounts of displacement, injustice and terror. The story continues to be everywhere. It must be told.

Howard Moody

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PUSH gjennomføres med støtte fra:

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Skrevet på oppdrag av Battle Festival og Glyndebourne and the De La Warr Pavilion. Urpremiere 1. oktober 2016.

Norsk libretto av Eve-Marie Lund, for RingsakerOperaen.

Prosjektorkester med musikere fra Innlandet.

RingsakerOperaen Produksjon.

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