Bread Crumb Child

The opera is based on a folkloric story with pagan elements, depicting a tale of dependent love and passion where incantations created for personal gain turn against the speaker, leading to tragic consequences. Inspired by Herta Laipaik’s narrative “Titekirikuleib” (1986).

The opera lasts about 2 hours, with one intermission
Composer: Malle Maltis
Libretto: Merle Jäeger
Director: Karl Laumets
Artist: Eva Maria Põldmäe
Video and lighting artist: Inessa Saarits
Costume designer: Ester Kannelmäe
Lighting artist: Priidu Adlas
Heba – Annabel Soode (soprano)
Lemmet – Janari Jorro (tenor)
Asso – Pavlo Balakin (baritone)
Mari  – Karmen Puis  (mezzo-soprano)
Jakap – Endrik Üksvärav (baritone)
Iko – Lukian Orlov
Mixed choir “Tumult Ensemble” (artistic director  Lodewijk van der Ree)
Setu’s choir “Siidisõsarõ”
Narva Symphony Orchestra, conductor Anatoli Shčura

Setting: A lakeside farm in Võrumaa

Synopsis: Heba, an orphaned girl, starts working on the Karutoosi farm, where she falls deeply in love with the farmhand Lemmet. However, Lemmet soon finds another girl, leaves Heba, and departs from the farm. Heba marries the widowed farm owner Asso, whom she doesn’t love, but with whom she has a son named Iko. Lemmet is magically attached to Heba’s heart, and when Asso dies in a work accident, Heba and Lemmet meet again. Their relationship is hindered by Asso and Heba’s son Iko, who disapproves of his mother meeting another man. In an attempt to silence her son, Heba unintentionally causes Iko’s death. After their son’s death, a wounded crane with a broken wing comes to the family. Heba is convinced that it is Iko, who has returned to her as a bird

Herta Laipaik’s collections of narrative-like stories (“Maarjakask,” “Kurjasadu,” “Hauakaevaja lood,” etc.) contain original pagan heritage with supernatural elements such as river spirits, witches, and other supernatural beings. Folkloric and ethnographic material is approached psychologically, with dark stories often ending tragically, featuring a motif of fatal passion.