The Moonflower at Tête à Tête - The Opera Festival

The Moonflower is a fusion of contemporary opera, theatre, dance and video art, inspired by the lives of two remarkable figures: Margaret Mee, a British botanist and artist explorer, and Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, environmentalist and activist.

Margaret and Chico meet as spirits in the afterlife. Their love of the Amazon rainforest inspires a journey full of magic and mysticism, but also of human struggle, love, greed, and above all, the undying nature of the human spirit. Deep in the flooded forest we re-discover the Moonflower, or the Queen of the Night. She opens once in a blue moon and dies with the first morning star. Her life is short but so precious and beautiful it is worth fighting for. The Moonflower is the leitmotif, holding the whole piece together.

Composed by Mario Ferraro, written by Eva Daníčková, and directed by Maja Milatović-Ovadia, this opera gathers an international team of artists from four continents in celebration of cultural diversity.