Special screening of Perfect Lives

Do not miss this rare opportunity to experience Robert Ashley’s six-part TV opera!

As a warm-up to Ultima 2025, Kunstnernes Hus presents Ashley’s groundbreaking television work – a wild and poetic opera about bank robberies, cocktail bars, love in old age, youthful escape, and much more from the American Midwest. The piece is considered one of the defining text-sound compositions of the late 20th century and has been described as a comic opera about reincarnation.

Before the screening, there will be a conversation between Tom Pauwels, artistic director of Ictus Ensemble, music journalist Rob Young, and Ultima’s director Heloisa Amaral about the opera’s significance and legacy.

On Friday 12 September, Liquid Room XII – A Perfect Life will be presented at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet. In this concert marathon with Ictus, POING and Ensemble Contrechamps, Ashley’s universe will be mirrored and expanded in dialogue with other musical expressions.

NB. If you already have tickets for Liquid Room XII, you will receive a discount for the film screening. Are you an ultiMATE? Then you have free admission. Register your interest at info@ultima.no