Let's make an opera

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!