|
Mid-1994 the composer
visited Europe for the first time. Garton spent two weeks in the Czech republic
where he gathered visual and sound resources for the opera. The origins
of "Auslaender's" libretto has its roots in this initiation to European
culture, its tumultous history, its clouds, stone and bloodied ground.
Early 1997, Garton returned to Europe where he spent two months researching and writing the libretto. He discovered Europe dealing with a contemporary refugee crisis. Auslaenders, in most of Central Europe, are reviled and barely tolerated. The issues influencing the opera were still current.
|