Could you distil your life to a single instant? A moment that, if all else were to fade, you would choose to live with for the rest of eternity? Michel van der Aa, house composer for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and one of contemporary opera’s most assured and ambitious voices, burrows deep into the very question of why we live with this profound contemporary masterpiece.

As six lost souls gather in limbo, they are asked to decide on the one memory each of them will take with them into the afterlife. Those who cannot choose must remain, trapped in purgatory until they can find a way to move on.

Based on the acclaimed 1998 Japanese film of the same name, this landmark Netherlands production is a heart-rending fusion of music, theatre and film. The textured vocals of the six singers, set to an ethereal score performed by a 23-piece orchestra, blend with an intriguing element of documentary: as the characters struggle to choose a single, defining memory, their stories are intercut with footage of real people contemplating the same decision.

Grandiose in scope, Van der Aa’s audacious blending of arts makes for a fitting final operatic presentation from Festival Director Brett Sheehy, who throughout his work with festivals around Australia has sought to champion contemporary opera as a vivid and essential 21^st century art-form. After Life joins such works as Jonathan Mills’s Eternity Man, Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and Pascal Dusapin’s Medea in bringing us another compelling demonstration of contemporary opera’s artistry and vitality.

Download the show program.

Michel van der Aa is giving a free public lecture at Monash University on Saturday 13 October at 12pm. Register here.

Van der Aa is also participating in the free Ringside: Artists in Conversation series on Friday 12 October at the Festival Hub.