Facing Goya defies all opera traditions

EXUBERANT or exasperating? Feat or flop? The brand new Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) raises its curtains with Facing Goya, a radical boundary-bashing opera directed by Ong Keng Sen, who is also, not coincidentally, the festival director of SIFA.

Composed by British composer Michael Nyman, with a libretto by Victoria Hardie, Facing Goya takes the audience across three time spans to examine how the skull of Francisco Goya, Spain's legendary painter, is being used by eugenicists to create the perfect human being.

The science-based opera is heavy on discourse, outlining the ethical debate on social engineering as it is first used by Nazi scientists to promote the Aryan race, and then by a modern-day biotech company for genetic manipulation.