Just over a week ago I was fully focussed on the premiere of my new opera When a Man Knows (which took place on June 13th). For some post-premiere relaxation we took ourselves off to Grange Park Opera this weekend to see two of their productions, Love of Three Oranges and Capriccio. Quite unintentionally we found the both operas continued the themes from the previous weekend; what constitutes an opera, what is more important words or music, how do you make a new opera which is relevant to today.
Love of Three Oranges opens with different groups arguing over what type of performance they want and throughout the piece one group actively involve themselves in the creation of the opera and guiding its direction, even so far as to intervene in the plot when the heroine is dying of thirst. Then of course in Capriccio we have the discussion of whether words or music are more important, but played out partly in allegory as the potential love affairs between the Countess and the Composers and the Poet. The piece is made all the more significant by the passage towards the end of Act 2 when the theatre director urges poet and composer to go off an make a new work which is relevant to today!
Whether my new opera is relevant to today I have no idea. We are currently planning our performance in August and I am starting work on gathering a team together to do a staging. Only then will we discover!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Britten: Death in Venice - Tim Mead, Leo Dixon - Royal Opera ((c) ROH 2019 photographed by Catherine Ashmore) 2019 seems to have b...
-
Mural: chamber music by Gabriel Vicéns; Stradivarius Reviewed 15 April 2024 At times fierce and concentrated, Gabriel Vicéns music can evok...
-
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Jessica Cottis Catalyst : Coleridge-Taylor, Julius Eastman, Gavin Higgins, Dani Howard, Prokofiev...
-
Thomas Elwin as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at West Green House Opera in 2021(Photo: Matthew Williams-Ellis) West Green House...
-
Ben Goldscheider Jörg Widmann, Beethoven, Schumann, Huw Watkins, York Bowen; Ben Goldscheider, Richard Uttley; Wigmore Hall Reviewed 17 Marc...
-
Bizet: Carmen, Act One - Blaise Malaba, Aighul Akhmetshina - Royal Opera House (Photo: ROH/Camilla Greenwell) Bizet: Carmen ; Aigul Akhmets...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Hurn Court Opera (Photo: Patrick Frost, BlackStar Pictures) Mozart: Don Giovanni : Sam Young, Samuel Lom, Lizzie Ryde...
-
Leeds Lieder Young Artists 2024 at Howard Assembly Room Composers & Poets Forum Showcase: A Leeds Songbook; Leeds Lieder Festival at Le...
No comments:
Post a Comment