ATMAN (8+)

Opera Zuid, De Nationale Opera and the Nederlandse Reisopera present Atman!, a musical tale that borders on the unbelievable. Nine-year-old Atman gets lost in his own city. He has his house key in his pocket, but can no longer remember where he lives. He asks for help in the street. A man has no time (‘Ask me again tomorrow’). A woman takes him along (‘Lads like you make good sailors’). But Atman wants to go home, not across the ocean. What begins as a simple request (‘Do you know which way I should go?’) becomes a journey full of detours and obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable for a nine-year-old boy – or rather: are. Composer Leonard Evers and writer Bart Moeyaert shape this journey in music and words.

About the artist (one-man orchestra)

Evers previously wrote the children’s opera Goud!for Opera Zuid and De Nationale Opera; it has been performed all over Europe since 2012. Other operas of his include Odyssee and Kriebel (2+). In Atman! Evers exploits every possibility of the accordion: the one-man orchestra and wandering instrument par excellence.  

For this production he is working with the acclaimed writer Bart Moeyaert, known for novels such as Broere and Een ander leven. His literary work is praised internationally, and his awards include the Flemish Culture Prize, the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs and the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the highest honour in children’s literature. The libretto of Atman! has also been published as a book. 

Atman! is directed by Annemiek van Elst, who works with various national and international opera houses. In 2022, for Opera Zuid, van Elst created and directed the staged Liederabend Eternal Road about the life of composer Kurt Weill.

Atman lasts approximately one hour and is sung and spoken in Dutch.