NEW YORK – While much of the globe is focused on the Paris Olympics, a movie filmed from ancient Olympia starring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato premiered this week that uses music to spark contemplation of creation and carnage.
“Eden in Olympia” opens by posing a pair of questions as day breaks over a river: “In the heart of Olympia, the sun ignites the flame and humanity joins as one. Here, music and nature together demonstrate the power of existing in a world that thrives in harmony and balance. Will we answer the call? Will we return to Eden?”
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In a series of scenes set to music from Baroque to Mahler’s “Rückert-Lieder” through “The First Morning of the World” by Academy Award-winner Rachel Portman, director Olivier Simonnet visualizes DiDonato’s audio recording released two years ago, a call to action on climate change.
“I find it comforting to know that this isn’t the first time we’ve been facing difficult things as a species on the planet, but we do have the power to set things right,” DiDonato said this week. “You join hands and you raise your voices together. You create something harmonious. You appreciate the beauty. You say thank you to everything has been given to you.”
Her first appearance is leaning against a leafy tree, wearing an earth-tone Zeus+Dione dress with a dream-like gaze and holding branches. Children emerge from woods with looks of astonishment to Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question,” carrying paper lanterns as darkness turns to dawn.
DiDonato sets off across a field, silhouetted by streaks of sunlight, a drone camera shooting from overhead. She stops in temple ruins, surrounded by idyllic trees with pink and green leaves, as the soundtrack switches to Portman’s 2022 composition.
Musicians gather, DiDonato sings as children bring her boughs but later walks away with tears after she collects flowers and is met with looks of disillusionment. At dusk, the musicians play savagely during the dance of furies from Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” wearing tiny flashlights on arms that made them resemble fireflies.
“The audience is aware that this is an ancient ground that that really gave birth to Olympic ideals and called up the best of humanity,” DiDonato said. “I think that presence, that energetic presence in the show, is very strong.”
DiDonato started to conceive “Eden” in 2019, and the recording with conductor Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo d’Oro was released in 2022. It earned the 11th Grammy Award nomination for the 55-year-old singer, a three-time Grammy winner.
A subsequent tour included about four dozen concerts with more in South America and Europe scheduled this summer.
World Human Forum President Alexandra Mitsotaki and artistic/creative director Myrto Vounatsou suggested the film after hearing DiDonato’s interview during an Athens performance in May 2023. Mitsotaki used her contacts to gain approval to film in Olympia a week ahead of the flame lighting on April 16.
Most of the vocal music was re-recorded the night before filming started. DiDonato arrived at 3:30 a.m. for makeup and shooting began two hours later at sunrise.
“It was a huge leap of faith because we were completely dependent on the weather,” DiDonato said. “We filmed that all in two days and we were on such a tight schedule, and we couldn’t afford to ever even go over 10 minutes on any scene, and we didn’t.”
Simonnet's 59-minute movie was released in Europe on ARTE last weekend, on Greece’s ERT2 on Thursday and on Carnegie Hall+ on Friday.
“The story Joyce wanted to tell the audience in the theater was very, very connected with the texts of the songs,” Simonnet said. “Of course you can read the meaning of the songs, talking about harmony and peace and things like that. But, at the end of the day, maybe you can forget the meaning of the songs and just be comfortable and happy with what you see, the landscape, this beautiful singer.”
Three children’s choruses appear: the Children’s Choir of the Greek National Opera, the Choeurs ECLATS choir from France and El Sistema Greece. DiDonato joins them in the uplifting “Seeds of Hope" and the Olympic anthem that closes the film, sung in Greek, French, and English.
“What is causing us to experience so much division, what is causing us not to be taking care of ourselves, of each other, of our planet? What is that disconnect within us as a society that is allowing this kind of destruction to happen?" she said. "I always turn to music when I’m looking for the big answers. Even if I don’t find them, it certainly offers me comfort.”