PARTITA

The planet is in a parlous state - war, environmental cataclysms, deadly pandemics, social discord, intractable political divisions. A pair of aristocratic metaphysician’s plan to repair the world through a magical artistic ceremony. They invite singers, instrumentalists, and dancers to their Palladian mansion to enact this experiment of healing. Time is of the essence; they have 24 hours to coalesce the 12 artists into a harmonious unit and create the ritualised performances that, on a spiritual level, will help repair the world. The aristocrats disguise themselves as servants, waiting on the artists, tending to household chores in their art-filled baroque mansion, while stealthily manipulating the proceedings. Visions of apocalyptic doom and rebirth envelop the mansion. As day turns to night a magic spell is placed on the artists who become entranced and enact a series of sublime late-night performances. As dawn approaches the artists perform a great fugue of reconciliation and renewal. Transformed, they leave the estate. The music the masters choose to palliate the soul of the world are Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Keyboard Partitas which are arranged for piano, voices and string instruments.