rough for opera again

Second Movement is presenting another rough for opera on 20 January 2013 at the Cockpit Theatre. This scratch night for new opera returns for a fourth instalment with an eclectic programme consisting of Danyal Dhondy's new version of Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona, a new staging of Peter Longworth's Pavane for an Invisible Princess and a new work by William Marsey based on a recipe for sourdough bread!


rough for opera presents a platform for young and emerging opera composers to explore the genre, and showcase work in development. The events often include work being performed in public for the first time and the audience gets a chance to respond as the evening concludes with a Q & A session with Prof. Paul Barker from the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Dhondy's new version of La Serva Padrona takes Pergolesi's arias and surrounds them with new recitative, all to a new libretto set in contemporary Britain. Longworth's Pavane for an Invisible Princess is told through the gossip and speculation of the characters, about a woman living in the street that no-one has actually met. Marsey's A Sourdough Bread Recipe is about the emotional journey of making bread. Marsey's text is a recipe of sourdough!

Further information from the Second Movement website, tickets from the Cockpit Theatre website.

Elsewhere on this blog:

• Interview with Matthew Barley
• Spitalfields Winter Festival
• Peer Gynt at the Barbican
• CD Review - Villazon Verdi
• Robert le Diable at Covent Garden
• The fascinating Mrs Mahler-Werfel
• Brodsky Quartet at 40 - Angels and Maidens
• Home