Bad Dante Bad English Bad Opera

Spreafico Eckly is an international company based in Bergen (Norway) founded and directed by Andrea Spreafico. With a constant drive for detailed dramaturgy and planned creative processes, Spreafico Eckly tends to challenge the boundaries of genres, moving freely among dance, music, theater and theory. The company creates its works in collaboration with experienced artists, such as Matteo Fargion, Theater Replacement, Robert M Johanson and Nicola Gunn. Andrea Spreafico holds a Phd in philosophy from the University of Bologna and Reims and a Diploma in Art and Public Spaces from the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and is currently Associate Professor in the art program of the Bergen School of Architecture (BAS). Matteo Fargion (1961) is a composer, performer and teacher. His eclectic work, stemming broadly from the English Experimental and New Simplicity movements, embraces the handmade and the small scale. He is known as much for his long standing collaboration with choreographer Jonathan Burrows as for the music he continues to write for concerts, theatre and dance performances. Uniquely he began not only to accompany the dance with his music but to become part of it, influencing a new generation of composers drawn to performance work. Fargion continues to tour and teach widely with Burrows, developing new forms of performance collaboration. Matteo Fargion has also recently collaborated with Mette Edvardsen on two pieces: oslo and the opera Penelope Sleeps. He is currently working with Spreafico Eckly on a second opera based on Dante's Purgatorio.