ORBIT

Aleksi Barrière is a French-Finnish director, dramaturge, and author, and the artistic director of the French collective La Chambre aux échos, which stages productions internationally in Europe, the US, and Japan. His productions, including collaborations with conductor Clément Mao-Takacs, are inspired by new interpretations of 20th-century works (e.g., Hanns Eisler’s “War Cantatas” in 2015, vocal music by Berio and Cage in 2017) and from collaborations with contemporary composers (e.g. Kaija Saariaho’s “La Passion de Simone” and “Only the Sound Remains” as well as Đuro Živković’s “Bogoluchie”). The music theater piece “Violences,” created in collaboration with composer Juha T. Koskinen (Finnish National Opera and Ballet, 2019), was described by FMQ magazine as one of the most important events not only of the Musica Nova Festival, but of the entire year. Barrière has written several libretti for composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Juha T. Koskinen, and Diana Syrse and is currently developing a libretti for Outi Tarkiainen and Tomás Bordalejo. His most recent productions include musical theater works for the Finnish National Opera, the ballet “Between” (2022), ‘Earthrise’ (2024), a new version of “The Soldier’s Tale” (Helsinki Music Center, 2022) with his own original text, and new productions of classics at the Espoo Organ Night and the Aria Festival: Britten’s “Curlew River” (2023), Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (2024), and Davies’ “Eight Songs for a Mad King” (2024).