By Rick Howlett
Louisville, KY – A multimedia opera by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen has won the 2011 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for music composition. The piece is based on Dante's epic poem, "The Divine Comedy." Louis Andriessen says his fourth opera and most ambititious creation, "la commedia" involves some of his favorite artists.
He asked American film director Hal Hartley to create visuals for the five part piece, and he also called upon Italian soprano Cristina Zavalloni, a frequent collaborator.
"The second part of commedia is a large monologue of her, she's a kind of Dante in the piece. It has to do with the fact that I met, finally, a singer who has all the qualities I like and need in singing, and she doesn't always sound like a classical trained soprano from the opera."
Speaking from Amsterdam, Andriessen says he considers Dante's work an encyclopedia of knowledge. U of L also announces its grawemeyer prizes this week for religion, psychology and ideas improving world order.