spellchestra ^(DK)

spellchestra is a Copenhagen-based operatic roleplaying ensemble directed by composer h hartvig (they/them). It is the continuation and expansion of spellcaster, the project behind the two critically acclaimed albums “Inventory” (Visage, 2019), and “memo, an opera in 9 scenes” (Anyines, 2022), alongside numerous single releases, collaborative multimedia projects and live performances.

Informed by an experimental approach to the opera genre, notions of the bard figure and game engines as generative composition tools, the project is concerned with questions of temporality, memory, communication, materialism, magic and community raised by music and stories. the ensemble performs serial musical theatre based on the game engine “the mem.mel.-engine”, spawned out of the spellcaster storyworld.