Directed by Yaron Lifschitz and premiered in 2016, the Circa contemporary circus ensemble's show fuses virtuosic forms of movement and poetic moments in a captivating and moving harmony. Conceived for seven acrobats and a live string quartet, the production also drew inspiration from the quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich.
The composer's colourful musical world is represented by three of his works for the string quartet. This music is both tragically intense and grotesquely comic, equally hopeful and desperate, distantly ironic and deeply transfigured. Every one of its notes, just like every movement of the production, reflects the extraordinary contradictions of 20th-century history.
This is "an evening so remarkable as almost to defy description,” wrote The Guardian's reviewer. The Canadian La Press called Opus 2 an "exceptional show in the history of circus... virtually flawless.”

Cooperating partners: Les Théâtres de la Ville Luxembourg, Grec Festival (Barcelona), Le Cirque-Théâtre d'Elbeuf, Düsseldorf Festival, Barbican Theatre, CACCV Espace Jean Legendre-Compiègne, Brisbane Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, Melbourne Festival

Sponsored by: Australian Government, Australia Council, Ministry for the Arts' Catalyst - Australian Arts and Culture Fund, Queensland Government

Presented by: Budapest Spring Festival