Trilogy of Dreams – Faith, Love and Revolution

Presentation

Trilogy of Dreams is a surrealist opera unfolding across Africa and Europe, intertwining past, present, and speculative futures. At its core is the Afronaut, a figure who moves across time and geography as both witness and wanderer, carrying memories between worlds. He encounters a young couple at a bus stop in Johannesburg, where an elderly woman—a queen—emerges from a pile of cardboard. The quartet will meet again at a bus stop in Antwerp, facing new challenges and transformed circumstances.

The four characters shift through time, place, and identity. Past, present, and future intertwine; faith, love, and revolution converge as borders and boundaries begin to dissolve. Through their journeys, personal stories become connected to larger histories of migration, displacement, and belonging.

The opera asks a central question: What does dignity mean in the shadow of historical and contemporary violence? This question resonates through the legacies of colonial displacement in South Africa and the realities of migration in Europe. Both societies are shaped by movements of people, fractured narratives of belonging, and the ongoing search for connection and identity.
In Johannesburg, the Afronaut becomes the keeper of memory amid the fragile social landscape of Hillbrow. In Europe, he navigates spaces marked by exclusion, precarity, and contested identities. He is not a figure of escape, but one of encounter — connecting histories, people, and places that are often perceived as separate.

Trilogy of Dreams imagines music and performance as a living archive, where every song and gesture uncovers buried histories while opening pathways towards new futures. Moving through the fractures of history as both archivist and guide, the Afronaut invites us to reflect on what it takes to transform survival into possibility, and how we can build a shared future in an increasingly diverse society.

Artistic Team

Expertise and innovation will go hand in hand with a team from Europe and South Africa joining forces. All team members will share the process of creating a full scale music theatre production with the young students participating in the writing workshops. The performers and the full education teams will be selected at a later date. Robert Lehmeier - concept, curator libretto, director, (workshop Johannesburg and Antwerp), Berlin. Chesney Palmer - composer, Johannesburg. Nabou Claerhout - composer, Antwerp. Stacy Hardy - writer, researcher, co-curator libretto. Tamzyn Botha - sound and video design, Johannesburg. Wouter Deltour / Claron McFadden - vocal coach. Nette De Maeyer - Set and costume design, Antwerp. Zaza Dupont - Lighting design, Antwerp.

Partners