Ritual Opera Collective presents works of music theatre, staged in a performance setting where the audience and performers are melted into an experience, structured as a contemporary representation of a primordial ritual. The collective consists of Jelena Vuksanovic (Author, Director, Dramaturg) and Andys Skordis (Composer, Conductor). They have worked and presented performances in various occasions and settings ranging from temples, rivers, abandoned buildings and stage performances. Their work has been presented in Bali, Berlin, Belgrade, Nicosia and Athens. They have received the Berlin opera prize 2022.
Their work together establishes an extensive research on elements deriving from mythology, urban myths, ceremonial forms and popular stories, with an aim to connect these foundations with universal values and human conditions of our time; thus presenting concepts inspired from the past, expressed in present and referring to the future. Ultimately, they are seeking new ways of storytelling, which can communicate on different levels of perception, based on the concept of visible and invisible worlds from the Balinese culture (Sekala and Niskala). This research is established in a non linear and logical way, but instead it is shaped through an intuitive, sacral, archetypal language resulting in words, sounds, images and movement.
Andys Skordis
(Cyprus, 1983) is a composer of contemporary music, with special emphasis on large scale works, music theatre and site specific pieces. Skordis studied composition at Berklee College of Music and at the Conservatorium Van Amsterdam, with additional studies in Karnatic music with Dr Rafael Reina and in Balinese Gamelan at ISI Denpasar in Bali. His work list includes operas, orchestral and chamber pieces, Gamelan music, vocal works, as well as music for dance, theatre and short films. In addition, he has created various music theatre performances in site specific locations like quarries, temples, abandoned buildings, forests, floating stages, which he conducted and directed. His music has been performed worldwide by professional and amateur ensembles, and has received international recognition through prizes including the BUMA Toonzetters prize, one of the most important prizes in The Netherlands, as well as awards from ISCM, Fedora Platform, Third Coast Percussion group, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, and more. Recently, he received the Berlin Opera Prize 2022 and the Black Pencil Prize 2020. Besides composing he is the founder of the contemporary music ensemble “PATSIAOURA”, he plays guitar with Monsieur Doumani, and he is an active performer in the field of free improvisation. At the moment he lives in Amsterdam where he teaches at the Conservatory Van Amsterdam and composes.
Jelena Vuksanovic
is a writer, theatre practitioner and facilitator, artistic director, and screenwriter. She has an MA in dramaturgy, and with a classical education, she was always drawn to knowledge and practice about contemporary and experimental theatre. She has worked with many independent theatre groups, developing artistic and educational projects, as for the communities and professionals. With many fascinations, her focus is on contemporary opera, site-specific theatre, sensory theatre, forum theatre and movies.
In 2015. Her debut movie «Panama” premiered during the Cannes film festival. In 2018. she had a premiere of her first contemporary opera “In… Se… -dawning-” in Bali, Indonesia, composed by Andys Skordis. In the same team they created several pieces performed in Bali and Berlin. Since 2021. Jelena is one of the co-directors of the Gravida Collective, Wales, UK, organisation that focuses on development of creativity and wellbeing of female artists.
Ritual Opera 