Yesterday Opéra de Montréal called a press conference at the Montreal Olympic Stadium. The curious location turned out to be a hint when Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters proceeded to confess that it was here on July 6, 1977, that the idea for “The Wall” first occurred to him.
Opéra de Montréal announced that they would stage the world premiere of the opera adaptation of Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall as part of the city’s 375th anniversary. The news follows a trend first started by the Canadian Opera Company’s who in 2013, announced the planned 2018 premiere of Hadrian by Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright.
OdeM’s 2016/17 season will also include Verdi’s Aida, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Puccini’s La Bohème.
Waters recounted the events that sparked the idea for The Wall happened during a concert for 80,000 unruly and disinterested Montreal fans. In the middle of the set, David Gilmour had had enough and walked off the stage. The crowd barely noticed. In a Rock & Roll moment, a kid climbed on the stage and Waters spat on him.
“I was pissed off or disaffected because of a large number of people who, with all due respect to the population of Montreal, were drunk and not really paying much attention to what was going on onstage and some kid was scrambling up the front (of the stage) and I think that I spat at him. Who knows whether I did or not? I realized I was at the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing. And I needed to express that I didn’t feel human, and we all want to feel human. My response to that was to write a show that involved building a huge wall between me and the people that I was trying to communicate with.”
Waters followed up with The Wall, two years later in 1979, and the record became the best-selling of Pink Floyd’s career. Waters eventually left Pink Floyd in 1985 and has since toured The Wall around the world.
“At the end of the day, The Wall is about a journey from spitting in someone’s face towards a position where love becomes more important, and our responsibility to those that share this planet with us becomes more important than our desire to engage in things that make us richer,” said Waters.
Another Brick in the Wall — The Opera will premiere on March 11 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts and will run for just seven shows ending on March 24th. Waters has hired composer Julien Bilodeau to pen the music, which will be conducted by Alain Trudel. The lead role (Pink) will be sung by Montreal-based Baritone Étienne Dupuis, backed by the Orchestre Métropolitain.
Tickets are now on sale for select dates at www.operademontreal.com
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