Matilda

"The smell of the sea, wind and darkness. The clean air atmosphere of the beginning throws out a vast scale... [and] from this moulded silence grows the beginning of an epic flow which unfurls Schmidt's tragic and fruitful life. The singers are natural and free, with convincing acting... in particular in their movement over the stage and through its special atmosphere - sensitive to the pure sound of the flutes. ....[With its origins in] the great tradition of minimalism... Clements' opera is embedded with citations, [including] Bach... If [Jaan Kross's novel] "Sailing Against the Wind" is the subject's Literary work, then the "Enlightened Disciple of Darkness" may conditionally called its Documentary opera."

"An English-Dutch flautist-composer and Italian designer Giuseppe Frigeni staged the musical spectacle "An Enlightened Disciple of Darkness" at the Noblessner foundry, about the life of a famous Estonian Bernhard Schmidt who was born on the island of Naissaar. Tõnu Kaljuste's musical directing was done so nicely that women's eyes were wet by the end. I asked for Erkki-Sven Tüür's comments, and it turned out that both Erkki-Sven and his wife liked the music very much, especially the use of the flutes, which gave the music a wonderful magical feeling. Erkki-Sven thought for a long time about the style of this show, and finally decided that it was 'magical naivism'."