Heinz-Juhani Hofmann: Didi vs. the World
"Why is the world so f🤬king difficult? Everything is a godd😈n mess, and not just inside my head, no matter what they try to make me believe. 🤯 They want to restrict me, 🚫 control me, keep me in check? I'm supposed to adapt. 🤨 What does that even mean? Is it my problem if I'm too much for you, huh? 🤷 Look in the mirror. 🪞 Don’t you see how broken you are? 💔 You're the ones who need help, not me."
Didi vs The World is a series of short dramatic scenes for a female voice and electric guitar. Didi is a young, neurodivergent woman searching for her place in the world—a world that turns a deaf ear, suppresses, and confines, a world full of incomprehensible rules and rigid norms that squeeze, force, and restrict.
The piece unfolds in public spaces—squares, subway stations—places where people go about their lives. It does not wait for silence or a focused audience. It exists in the midst of noise, fighting desperately for the right to exist.
Each performance is a fully composed mini-opera. Together, the 10 parts form an arc, but they can also be experienced individually. Didi vs The World is a standalone work, yet it is also the second part of the contemporary opera trilogy The Public Life and Death of Afrodite "Didi" Hakkarainen, which boldly combines opera, theater, social media, video, and performance art. The first part, Myself/Myself/Myself, premiered at the Helsinki Opera Summer Festival in August 2024.
Didi Hakkarainen's social media channels can be followed on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube (@didihakkarainen).
Creative Team:
Composition & Libretto: Heinz-Juhani Hofmann
Direction: Isa Kortekangas
Visual Design: Karoliina Korhonen
Video: Eetu Lipponen
Performers
Annika Fuhrmann, soprano
Jukka Kääriäinen, electric guitar
Performances
The performance takes place in the Alexander Theatre’s public foyer and is included in the ticket price of the main stage production at the Helsinki Contemporary Opera Festival.
Thu 28.8. klo 18 (Bon appétit! - Silvia and I at 18.30)
Sat 30.8. at 12.30 (Ada Lovelace at 13)
Sat 30.8. at 15.30 (Kahden kasvot: Carmen & Adriana at 16)
Sat 30.8. at 18.30 (Bon appétit! - Silvia and I at 19)
Sun 31.8. at 12.30 (Ada Lovelace at 13)
Sun 31.8. at 15.30 (Kahden kasvot: Carmen & Adriana at 16)
In addition to the performances from August 28 to 31, there will be events in public spaces throughout the city center. Exact times and locations will be announced closer to the festival.
duration
10 min, no intermission
language
Finnish
Surtitles
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age
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