Mindsurfing with ALEXANDRE CAMERLO

ALEXANDRE CAMERLO is French Opera Director. After studying engineering, Alexander decided to focus on opera and film. At the Théâtre de la pleine lune  he collaborated on the conception of ‘Collecteurs Lunaires’.  Alexandre is also an actor and singer in his own right and is currently studying with Nita Klein, Jacques Calatayud, Christian Tréguier and Yann Toussaint. His belief being that the best education for live theatre comes from being ‘on the boards’ he founded the troupe: OPERACTING. Alexandre has also directed a short film: « La descente des marches ». It was his first effort in that medium and it was selected for the Short Film Corner at the Festival de Cannes. In 2010, he assisted his father, the celebrated opera director Humbert Camerlo, on his direction of « Noces de Figaro » at l’Opéra de Paris. Inspired by this experience he restaged Mozart’s opera with his troupe, and organized a tour of the piece in the South of France before staging the production at the Théâtre Adyar near the Tour Eiffel in Paris. Alexander also lends his talent to capturing many live perfomances on film and video. He will stage  «L’enfant et les Sortilèges» an opera by Maurice Ravel at the Capitole de Toulouse on 2013.
To visit Alexandre’s website: a.camerlo.free.fr

 

 

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SOURCE OF INSPIRATION?

For me my first source of inspiration when I was a kid was a drawing of  my family. A little bit later I used it in the family computer and realized my first animated cartoon!

There is also the metaphor of the watering pipe that I find is an apt one when related to inspiration:

Technique, the constraints of directing, of interpreting an existing piece like an opera for a stage director is the pipe itself. The intuition, the capacity to connect ideas and concepts, the creativity is the water, the liquid itself.

The inspiration could be the speed at which the water is projected. It is then dependent on the flow (the density of ideas for the artist) and the size of the pipe (the acceptation of constraints). It might an explanation of the design of the Pompidou Center in Paris ?

 

WHICH OF YOUR 5 SENSES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU ?

I think it’s my hearing just before my eyesight. Although I need the combination of the two.

The most important for me is my brain’s structure working with the sounds and the volume in space.

 

HOW DO YOU ACCESS YOUR CREATIVITY?

By walking!  I am very peripatetic. I ‘ve got to walk to think.

Specifically, I believe it’s a round trip between the constraint of work and being able to escape  by watching  and feeling the outside world.

The discovery of what other people have done through Music, Dance, Theater, Painting, Film, Literature…all of which Opera is a brilliant synthesis.

The happiness and the excitement of creation by the interpretation and the performance of your own vision.

 

WHAT IS THE FIRST WORD THAT COMES TO YOUR MIND WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS IMAGE?

Wart hog.

Published: July 15th, 2012

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Mindsurfing with JOE MCGINTY



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