Page 66 - William Kentridge - City Deep - Sibyl

Waiting for the Sibyl Publication
By William Kentridge
The text in this book is essentially the libretto of the chamber opera Waiting for the Sibyl, which was made for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and first performed there in September 2019. Music for the opera was composed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Kyle Shepherd.
The images and phrases were projected on different size screens in the opera, sometimes in sync with the sung text, sometimes independent of any sung text. The phrases come from many sources. Lines from different poets were used: translations from Finnish, Hebrew, Spanish, Greek, Polish, Russian and German. Some lines are renderings of African proverbs. Some were written specifically for the opera. The text is therefore compiled rather than written.
In the opera production, the right-hand page generally had text, and the left-hand page had a mixture of drawings and the shadow of a dancer on stage cast onto the projection surface. In this book there are more and different drawings than are used in the opera. Some drawings of the dancer Teresa Phuti Mojela stand in for her shadow cast by a projector.
This book is compiled and published in the time of the covid-19 pandemic, a time in which it is not possible to perform the opera live. The project is undertaken in anticipation of the time when the opera can be seen in its full form again.
Specifications
Quantity: 1 500 copies
Extent: 360 pages
Size: 195 x 270 mm portrait
Cover: Hard cover bound in linen with French-fold dust jacket Paper: 80 gsm gsm Werkdruck blaulichweiss 1.5
Print: Full colour + skeleton black + Pantone blue
Binding: Thread sewn
Design and production management: Oliver Barstow Printing and binding: robstolk, Amsterdam