It is an independent continuation of Kølbæk Iversen’s long-term art project Io/I, which is on view at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art until January 20, 2019, as part of the exhibition “The Moon.” Performed by countertenor Morten Grove Frandsen and soprano Vindelev herself !

In the opera’s libretto, written by Kølbæk Iversen, the diverging identities of Io is explored: Io is Jupiter’s inner-most moon, which was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, but she is also the Greek-Roman mythological priestess after whom the moon is named. Through Galileo’s Italian (‘io’ is the Italian word for ‘I’) the different manifestations of Io are synthesised into a composite Self; a Self thus also encompassing Galileo as well as the artists – the audience even; a Self which speaks through the Moonologue.

In her composition of Kølbæk Iversen’s text, Fogh Vindelev takes as her starting point this blurring of identities, which she reflects in the two voices – a male and a female voice, a countertenor and a soprano (sung by Morten Grove Frandsen and Fogh Vindelev herself) – that intersect and diffuse each other beyond the singers’ cultural and biological genders. The composition shifts between recitative and abstract parts together reflecting the hybridising, supernatural, and mythic character of the text.

The collaboration manifests as two live performances at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art during the fall and winter of 2018, for which Kølbæk Iversen has created the masks and costumes: one at full moon on November 23, and one at new moon on December 7, 2018. In addition, the opera is released as a limited vinyl edition by Antipyrine Records on the occasion of the first performance.