Quarteto Contratempus

The reporter questions him on the parish’s revolutionary method, Simplex. He explains the virtual measures he implemented—including going to the cemetery by internet appointment, online flower shop and electric candles powered by solar panels—derive from the fact that the gravedigger (Arnold B. Jobs) is also the IT specialist at the parish: he’s a dissident from Silicon Valley who surrendered to the mountain’s charms and acts as the chairman’s adviser on all kinds of rural start-ups and the likes. At the end of the funeral ceremony, the chairman invites the journalist to attend an executive meeting. Geneviève slowly gives in to the charms of Vila Velha do Pinheiro’s technological advancement. The chairman then invites her to have dinner at gluten-free Santelmo’s, whose lamps have been designed by the adviser, and are powered by a new energy source originating in the will-o'-the-wisps, which is captured in a grid located under the graves, that also feeds the restaurant stoves and the cattle pens that go with it. Over dinner, the chairman proposes to the journalist. She refuses, rejects him and accuses him of sexual harassment, threatening to inform the press. He apologises, because it would ruin his political future, given that he intends to take part in a party congress as delegate. The following day, at the opening ceremony of the self-sustainable hose, which is indexed to groundwater levels, Geneviève arrives in the middle of the speech. The chairman baptises the hose with her name. Love promises ensue... A happy ending. 

Quarteto Contratempus is a contemporary chamber music ensemble. The collective has been focusing on producing of chamber operas in Portuguese since 2014, of which we highlight “A Querela dos Grilos” (2015), “Os Dilemas Dietéticos de uma Matrioska do Meio” (2016) and “As Sete Mulheres de Jeremias Epicentro” (2017), co-produced by Teatro Municipal do Porto. In 2018, the quartet received the 3rd Super Bock/ Serralves National Creative Industries Award and the BfK Award (promoted by the Portuguese National Innovation Agency). The quartet’s latest creations had the support of the Directorate-General for the Arts, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and GDA Foundation, and are the result of a partnership with Teatro Municipal do Porto.