Joyce DiDonato stars in ‘Eden in Olympia,’ coinciding with Paris Games, a call for climate action | US

NEW YORK (AP) — While much of the world is focused on the Olympic Games in Paris, a film shot in ancient Olympia starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato premiered this week. The film uses music to evoke contemplation on creation and carnage.

“Eden in Olympia” begins by posing a few questions as day breaks over a river: “In the heart of Olympia, the sun lights the flame and humanity unites as one. Here, music and nature together demonstrate the power of existence in a world that thrives in harmony and balance. Will we answer the call? Will we return to Eden?”

In a series of scenes set to music ranging from Baroque to Mahler’s “Rückert-Lieder” to Academy Award winner Rachel Portman’s “The First Morning of the World,” director Olivier Simonnet visualizes DiDonato’s audio recording released two years ago, a call to action on climate change.

“I find it comforting to know that this is not the first time that we as a species on this planet have faced difficult things, but we do have the power to make things right,” DiDonato said this week. “You are coming together and raising your voices together. You are creating something harmonious. You are appreciating the beauty. You are giving thanks for everything that has been given to you.”

Her first appearance is leaning against a leafy tree, dressed in an earthy Zeus+Dione dress with a dreamy gaze and holding branches. Children emerge from the forest with puzzled looks at Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question”, carrying paper lanterns as darkness turns to dawn.

DiDonato takes off across a field, silhouetted by streaks of sunlight, a drone camera shooting from above. She stops in temple ruins, surrounded by idyllic trees with pink and green leaves, as the soundtrack switches to Portman’s 2022 composition.

Musicians gather, DiDonato sings as children bring her branches, but later walks away in tears after gathering flowers and is met with looks of disillusionment. At dusk, the musicians play wildly during the Dance of the Furies from Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice”, carrying small torches on their arms that resemble fireflies.

“The audience knows that this is an ancient ground that has truly produced Olympic ideals and has evoked the best of humanity,” DiDonato said. “I think that presence, that energetic presence in the show, is very powerful.”

DiDonato began conceiving “Eden” in 2019, and the recording with conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d’Oro was released in 2022. It earned the 55-year-old three-time Grammy Award winner an 11th Grammy Award nomination.

The subsequent tour included approximately four dozen concerts, with more concerts in South America and Europe scheduled for this summer.

Alexandra Mitsotaki, President of the World Human Forum, and Myrto Vounatsou, Artistic/Creative Director, proposed the film after hearing DiDonato’s interview during a performance in Athens in May 2023. Mitsotaki used her contacts to get approval to film in Olympia, a week before the April 16 flame lighting.

Most of the vocal music was re-recorded the night before filming began. DiDonato arrived at 3:30 a.m. for makeup, and filming began two hours later at sunrise.

“It was a huge leap of faith because we were completely dependent on the weather,” DiDonato said. “We shot all of that in two days and we were on such a tight schedule that we couldn’t afford to shoot more than 10 minutes in any scene, and we didn’t.”

Simonnet’s 59-minute film was released in Europe last weekend on ARTE, on Thursday on ERT2 in Greece and on Friday on Carnegie Hall+.

“The story that Joyce wanted to tell the audience in the theater was very, very connected to the lyrics of the songs,” Simonnet said. “Of course you can read the meaning of the songs, talk about harmony and peace and things like that. But at the end of the day, you can maybe forget the meaning of the songs and just be comfortable and happy with what you see, the landscape, this beautiful singer.”

Three children’s choirs appear: the Children’s Choir of the Greek National Opera, the Choeurs ECLATS of France, and El Sistema Greece. DiDonato joins them for the uplifting “Seeds of Hope” and the Olympic anthem that closes the film, sung in Greek, French, and English.

“What is it that causes us to be so divided, what is it that causes us to not take care of ourselves, of each other, of our planet? What is this disconnect in us as a society that allows for this kind of destruction?” she said. “I always turn to music when I’m looking for the big answers. Even when I don’t find them, it definitely gives me solace.”

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