A Struggle for Memory: Composer Hèctor Parra on his new opera "Justice"

Abstract

In this interview, the composer Hèctor Parra engages in a conversation with Luis Velasco-Pufleau about his opera “Justice”, co-produced by the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Festival Tangente St. Pölten (Austria). Based on a script by director Milo Rau and a libretto by Congolese writer Fiston Mwanza Mujila, the opera is set in Katanga, an extremely mineral-rich region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) whose resources have been mostly exploited by foreign mining companies from the brutal Belgian colonization of the country to the present day. Parra talks about the creative process of the work and his artistic collaborations around “Justice”.