Code L is a new opera project, conceived by Slovenian authors, creating in the international arena in various artistic fields. The project was inspired by the book A Lover's Discourse: Fragments by French philosopher Roland Barthes (1915–1980). It is one of the most original discussions of love, interpreting the love discourse in modern times as 'extremely lonely'. Using a method of connecting of selected emotional states with archetypal love motifs from literature, philosophy and everyday life, the newly created operatic piece follows Barthes's principle and drifts away at the same time into the world of independent artistic creation. Thus code L opens up the worlds of love, by means of guiding and directing it in eternal longing through different figures. Almost every opera encroaches upon the realm of love, therefore our new musical and theatre piece is dedicated, in its very special way, to the art of opera, reaching its coherence and beauty through intertwining of all artistic genres. The authors of the performance are: internationally renowned Slovenian composer Milko Lazar (his first work for the Ljubljana Opera, The Tenth Daughter, was premiered in 2015), writer and dramaturge in the SNG Drama Eva Kraševec, opera director, set designer and artistic director of the Ljubljana Opera Theatre Rocc, and acknowledged video artist Nataša Prosenc Stearns. The musical leadership of the performance and orchestra will be entrusted to Maestro Marko Hribernik.

Text: www.opera.si Eva Kraševec and Rocc