Clepsydra

A chamber opera based on Camilo Pessanha’s poem “Branco e Vermelho” (White and Red), one of the great exponents of Portuguese Symbolism. With original music by Carlos Marecos and stage direction by Alexandre Lyra Leite, the action takes place in the desolate landscape of the Arctic, the final refuge for a struggle for the survival of the human species.

The clepsydra, an ancient instrument for measuring time by water, emerges as a central metaphor, reflecting the fleetingness of life and the impossibility of escaping the inexorable flow of time. The narrative addresses the decay of civilization, the obsession with immortality, and the volatility of all living things. Ephemeral and eternal, desolate and exhilarating, an enigmatic white world where the performers are characters in a suspended time that defies death itself.