Existence

Existence is a new one-hour choral work specially commissioned for the Göteborg Opera Senior Youth Choir and the Arctic Light youth choir from Norrbottensmusiken. The choral work is based on the young singers’ own accounts of what it’s like being young today, differences and similarities between rural and urban areas, and the importance of family trees to your identity. Composer John Barber and librettist Hazel Gould are a British duo that has worked with the Göteborg Opera Children’s and Youth Choruses on several occasions, most recently in the opera Euridice’s Song, which was performed at the Choruses’ 10-year anniversary celebration in 2019. Existence will be performed for the first time at the Göteborg Opera, then it will go on tour in Norbotten.