The Pain of Others

Constantine Koukias is an internationally acclaimed composer, opera director, and producer based in Amsterdam since 2013. Originally from Tasmania, where he co-founded with Werner Ihlenfeld IHOS Music Theatre and Opera, he has built a distinguished career spanning over three decades, with projects presented across Europe, Australia, North America, and Asia.

Koukias’s work is distinguished by its innovative fusion of large-scale music theatre, opera, film, and installation art, often exploring themes of migration, identity, and human rights. His productions are recognized for their striking spatial and temporal designs and their integration of diverse musical traditions, including Byzantine, Latin, and Eastern influences.

Major international commissions include ICON for the 20th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House and The Barbarians, inspired by Constantine Cavafy, which was commissioned by the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Koukias’s avant-garde approach to opera has resulted in groundbreaking productions such as Days and Nights with Christ, To Traverse Water, MIKROVION, The Divine Kiss, Tesla – Lightning in His Hand, and Prayer Bells, which premiered in Chicago. Other notable works include Kimisis – Falling Asleep, which has toured the Netherlands and Australia, and Before The Flame Goes Out, performed at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and other major European museums.

Recent projects include the film noir opera Deep Black Sleep for MONA FOMA, the film opera Shaped by Trees (in collaboration with Biasino William Pezzimenti), and the international documentary-performance series PRIMORDIAL, exploring Ediacara fossil sites worldwide.

Koukias has received numerous prestigious awards, including the International Valentino Bucchi Vocal Prize in Rome for Incantation II for soprano and digital delay, the Sir Winston Churchill Fellowship for his contributions to music and opera, and The American Prize for his direction of Backward from Winter. He also won ABC Radio’s Gallipoli Centenary Composer Competition with Three Episodes from the Diary of Signaller Peter Ellis. His opera The Barbarians was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best New Opera. His work has also been recognized in the field of design with the Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) and the Australian Interior Design Awards for the production of The Barbarians.

Beyond his artistic achievements, Koukias is recognized as a passionate collaborator and advocate for social justice initiatives.

Aleksandar Mijailović was born in Užice, Yugoslavia, in 1976. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and Master Degree in Motion Picture & TV from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade. He is a Member of UFUS – The Association of Film Artists of Serbia.

He has over 15 years experience in the field of film production, making documentary, fiction, corporate, and music videos, and over 20 years on numerous of television programs as the camerman and director of photography. Among his many programs are Road to Agartha (2020) – a feature-length documentary filmed in Southeast Asia, and Super Heroes of Media Literacy (2020) – a feature TV series over 18 episodes for young people on the topic of media literacy in the 21st century for. National Television of Serbia.

On the Right Track (2019), Young Minds of Serbia (2019), BURN (2018), and Controindicazione (2016) are four of a large number of documentary reports for the non-governmental sectors, such as the  United Nations, Red Cross, USAID and SeConS.

In addition to feature and documentary films, he often works as a videographer in the field of music. He has recorded and directed several music videos, both for classical and jazz music and for alternative rock bands.

In 2019 he was the Director of Photography for the opera A Deep Black Sleep, produced by Foundation IHOS Amsterdam. He has also had a long-term collaboration with the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum in Belgrade for several years.

Aleksandra Lalić graduated in History of Art at the University of Belgrade. She is well known for creating experimental clothing such as dresses made of human hair.

Under the label ‘LalicA’, she has produced her clothing line since 2002. According to Fashion Reverie, Lalić “represents a continuing trend in European fashion of re-imaging and re-inventing the way consumers and industry professionals consider form, structure, fabrication, and wearability.”

Her 2017 line was described as “all smooth lines and earthy colours, a subtle mix of contemporary style and traditional references”. In 2018, she participated in a group tribute to Boris Nikolić at Belgrade Fashion Week.

Lalić has become known for creating experimental dresses made of felt from human hair.  She uses hair that had been cut-off or rejected, as part of a habitual beauty routine. By re-purposing the hair, the designer views the transformed material as returning “… to the body in the form of clothing as an undesirable surface”. Aleksandra is currently creating costumes for the theatrical performance The Snow Queen at the cult theatre Little Theatre “Duško Radović”.

Boris Todorović, is a Serbian director working for theatre, radio, TV and film. After completing his degree in English and Literature at The Faculty of Philology in Pristina, he took his BA in Theatre and radio directing at the renowned Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.

During his training, he worked professionally for theatres in Serbia, Bulgaria and France. To date he has directed thirteen theatre performances based on contemporary Serbian and international authors, among which, Mansard by Danilo Kiš, Hyperbolic Paraboloidby Milica Konstantinovic, Wolve’s Pit by Miomir Petrović, Sava-Raka-Tinu by Jelena Lukić, In the Jungle of the Cities by Brecht, So it is (If you Think So) by Pirandello, stand out as clear examples of his ecclectic style.  

He has produced radio dramas for Radio Beograd 2. His productionss have toured successfully in Serbia and abroad, and some have taken part in national and international festivals to high critical accliam.

Though active in all theatrical genres and styles, from classical, through puppetry, to ambiental theatre, he has always cherished a passion for TV and movie directing. In film, he has worked in various capacities, as a script doctor, 2nd AD (TV Series: God Forbid! – PANIKAFILM Belgrade 2015), 1st AD (Some Better People – PFI Studios, Belgrade 2020), Second unit director – editor.

 Between 2005 to 2007 he worked as a project manager and Artistic Director of Open Arc Theatre in Užice where he took part in establishing and developing an open air theatre festival. From 2012 to 2015 he was the General Manager of The City Cultural Center, in Užice (Serbia).