Two days after the Norwegian premiere of Heroin Chic, five soloists, Ensemble Oslo and conductor Hans Petter Mæhle gathered at Jar Church outside Oslo to record the entire ninety-minute opera live to tape. One day, two acts, thousands of notes and a cast still carrying the previous performance in their bodies: the arithmetic borders on absurd.

Norwegian composer Solveig Sørbø created the work from Maria Kjos Fonn’s novel and carried it through performances in Romania and Oslo before the complete recording arrived on October 16 via Solsnu. The provocative title attracts the first glance; the scale of the undertaking holds it. Our conversation with Sørbø reaches past the ceremonial language surrounding contemporary opera and into the arguments, exhaustion, judgment calls and stubborn confidence required to bring Heroin Chic into existence.

Hi Solveig, it’s lovely to speak with you. I’ll start with the slightly rude question: when you announced a ninety-minute opera called Heroin Chic, who tried hardest to talk you out of it?

Thanks for having me! Not because of the subject matter, no, but I guess it seemed like a very ambitious task (especially for someone without the right education), I sort of jumped into an unknown landscape and had to figure it out along the way.

Opera has spent centuries giving dying women beautiful music. How did you give Elise agency inside an art form so fond of turning female suffering into spectacle?

I don’t think it is my job to give her agency. If art by women all has to have this marginalised edge it will just become boring –  and worse: tied to expectations not faced by others, a very limited role. I will not find myself in that place – I just create what I want and what presents itself in my process. Also, tradition is of limited importance to me. I wanted the work to be an opera, classical, sung. I wanted it to be singable, playable, listenable. I wanted to tell a story, and make intriguing and captivating music. I did my best, and the result is for others to judge. The suffering as you say, the drama, the horror and joy are all part of it  – and in Elise’s mind these are all things she choses (agency or not), which makes for a story that is really interesting to relate to musically.

I’m interested in the arguments between you and Maria Kjos Fonn, because harmony between collaborators usually makes a dull story. Which disagreement exposed the greatest difference between how a novelist and a composer understand character?

I was very fortunate that Maria allowed me to make it my own, and I don’t think I could have made it if someone else was the boss. At the same time she also supplied great lines of text that were incredibly inspiring to make into music. Her texts were vivid, lyrical, full of contrast, and told something about their characters. I cannot recall a specific point of disagreement, but when throwing bits forth and back things got better, for instance when I had written som lyrics and she pointed out that they revealed too much of what was to follow in the action, and rewrote them making it just so much more poetic and enigmatic. I also had help from my conductor/boyfriend who was fiercely honest and suggested about 40 minutes worth of cuts from an earlier draft and a lot of enhancements. It was not easy to be on the receiving end of his helpful comments, but in the end it just made the whole so much better. Soprano Susanna Wolff and other singers and instrumentalists also provided useful feedback on what is idiomatic for their instrument. It was important to me to make the piece enjoyable to play, since I want people to have a good time at work. It also makes it more natural for them to add that magical touch to the interpretation!

Elise makes choices that injure herself and affect everyone around her. Where does your compassion for her give way to anger?

I am not sure I did, actually! And I certainly did not try to moralise. I do feel some empathy along with a lot of other feelings, and at the same time, her extreme actions feels more like something out of a legend or fairytale. So it is more like I lean into that and play along with this artistic thought experiment, bringing myself and the audience/listeners into her world without questioning it. Central to the novel and the opera is that self-destructive behaviour does not always have a clear cause – sometimes it is the essence itself, and becomes the cause of everything else. I think we should aim at empathising with and understanding people who suffer without a clear cause, while also not hiding the truth of anyones actions.

I keep changing my mind about Elise’s mother. One minute I see protection; the next, possession. Where do you land when you look at her now?

In the opera version the mother seems more scary than in the book, I think, and all persons and relationships evolved, also in interaction with the unfolding music which to some extent lives its own life.

I would have needed something aggressively ordinary after spending the day inside Elise’s head, perhaps supermarket shopping or terrible television. What brought you back to yourself?

I was more affected by the demanding work as a whole! Tens of thousands of tones in an intricate architecture. I found listening and moving to techno and electronic pop music very freeing and relaxing. A great antidote. I think I did some cooking too. It was long days, so everyday life was limited, to say the least.

How many people called Heroin Chic “visionary” only after it had already succeeded?

If there are they did not tell me:)

Forget the reviews for a moment; I want some gossip from the afterparty. Which conversation with a stranger told you that the opera had reached somebody you never expected?

The audience response what quite overwhelming. People were all in tears and several of them called publicly for the opera houses to have the work staged. It was incredibly touching for me to witness this response after the long, isolated and difficult gestation period. This is an honour I share not only with Maria who write the novel and libretto, but with the team who performed it, pouring their hearts into it, or otherwise made it possible. Susanna Wolff, Sofia Neacsu, Siv Misund, Ivar Magnus Sandve, Johannes Nikolai Aas, Ensemble Oslo and Hans Petter Mæhle made the opera real by performing it so beautifully, and really deserved their standing ovation.

I’m the annoying person who thinks the walk to the turntable becomes part of the record. Which thought should follow the listener across the room while they change sides?

Yes, and we experienced that feeling at a listening party in Berlin arranged by Audio-Technica. Edward Forth, Andrew Steingold, and Bar Neiro. Freshly cut lacquer plates cut by Erik Breuer of Brewery Studios / Analogue Foundation were spun and amplified on a state-of-the-art custom built sound system, with about 30 people from the industry, their ears filled with Heroin chic and their glasses with sake, beer or wine. A small break when a side reached its end and the guys taking a few seconds to flip or change plates. The chargedness of the room, the focus. It was a wonderful experience, and in a way very close to that of listening to a live concert. I cannot point out one feeling people should be left with, as there are many potential ones and depend on each individual listener, but I am so so happy if it resonnates with people on one level or another. So guys, give it a spin, and let me know what you think!

Please tell me your next piece gives you at least one scene where everybody behaves sensibly. What are you working on now?

Yes, I am working on a new opera based on Ibsen’s The Wild Duck! It is a psychological and symbolic tragicomedy which really speaks to me.