Geweld & Vibrato

Composer Huba de Graaff found letters and photos in her parents' estate from her maternal uncle who fought in Indonesia for the Dutch army. In sharp contrast are all the documents she found with her Indo grandfather on her father's side. He turned out to have been friends with members of the Indonesian anti-colonial resistance. De Graaff is the living product of two families, who embody the two sides of this colonial war.

Based on these discoveries, De Graaff creates a performance as only she can: an unorthodox opera in which she turns the genre inside out. With original radio speeches as a guideline for the historical narrative. The phenomenon of 'vibrato' becomes a metaphor for the violence of Western expansionism: an overwhelming and forced operatic vibrato.