MOTO – Membra Jesu Nostri

Duration of the performance: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Music: Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707): Membra Jesu Nostri, BuxWV 75 (1680)
Musical Director: Andoni Sierra
Direction, Dramaturgy and Scenography: Lucía Astigarraga
Text Author: Eneko Sagardoy
Soloists, Choir & Instrumental Ensemble: Conductus Ensemble
Costume Designer: Pau Aulí
Lighting Design: Alberto Rodríguez Vega
Actor: Eneko Sagardoy
Young Eneko: Eder Dalmau Rozadilla
Production: Arriaga Theatre, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain

Premiere: 14 October 2022, Arriaga Theatre, Bilbao

Guest performance is produced in collaboration with Cankarjev dom and Prešeren Theatre Kranj, within the project Drama of Small European Languages – DoSEL.

With the support of the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA can be held responsible for them.

When we see death it is not usually our own, however, we project ourselves into its reflection and are tormented by unanswered questions about our future. Loss generates unbearable pain. It is an accidental death of someone loved, instantaneous and unforeseen, without apparent cause or justification. Delirium can confuse everything, embellish the past, dramatically darken our vision of the world or lead us to recreate lived situations in a loop and immerse ourselves in a continuous obsessive analysis. The “I” interacts with “others” and recreates itself in search of comfort and hope, often without finding such needs satisfied. Music sings of the death of Christ, the great universal tragedy that becomes private and personal at some point in every life. The body and its parts make up a single actor, which inhabits two souls. Eneko remembers Josu's love and swims in the forest of his childhood with the sole purpose of understanding his loss.

The piece is a staging of Dietrich Buxtehude’s 1680 concerto Membra Jesu Nostri. This cycle of seven cantatas dedicated to Christ’s feet, knees, hands, side, chest, heart and head will be interspersed with a text written and performed by the actor Eneko Sagardoy about a guy who vanishes forever in a suspected motorcycle accident and the love of the person remaining.

The composer’s bravery and brilliance, the rigour of his approaches, the novelty of his forms, and the persistent pursuit of excellence in each of his works are the trademarks of an artist worthy of comparison to Johann Sebastian Bach.

Dieterich Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima, BuxWV 7
I. Ad Pedes / To the Feet
II. Ad Genua / To the Knees
III. Ad Manus / To the Hands
IV. Ad Latus / To the Side
V. Ad Pectus / To the Chest
VI. Ad Cor / To the Heart
VII. Ad Faciem / To the Head

Soloists
Soprano I: Ainhoa López de Munain
Soprano II: Lucía Gómez
Alto I: Mikel Uskola
Alto II: Mario Hernández
Tenor: Aitor Garitano
Bass I: Jesús García Aréjula
Bass II: Hodei Yañez

Choir
Soprano I: Ainhoa López de Munain, Jaurne Gaminde, Marta García, Irene Fraile
Soprano II: Lucía Gómez, María Jesús Ugalde, Saioa Goñi
Alto: Mikel Uskola, Mario Hernández, Larraitz Gorriño, Mirari Pérez
Tenor: Aitor Garitano, Aitor Imaz, Pablo Benavente
Bass: Jesús García Aréjula, Hodei Yañez

Conductus Ensemble
Violin I: Iñigo Aranzasti
Violin II: Ander Berrojalbiz
Cello: Alejandro Saúl Martínez
Violone: Sabina Colonna
Organ: Alize Mendizábal

Ensemble of Viols – La Chimera
Soprano viola da gamba: María Alejandra Saturno
Tenor viola da gamba: Carolina Egüez
Bass viola da gamba: Alejandro Marías
Viola da gamba, continuo: Sara Ruiz

Conductor: Andoni Sierra
 

The performance is a part of the Drama of Smaller European Language – DoSEL, collaboration project, co-financed by the European Union – Creative Europe programme. DoSEL contributes to safeguarding cultural and linguistic diversity in the European cultural space, specifically in the drama and theatre sector, by improving the conditions for transnational creation, translation, and performance of European drama written in smaller European languages.