The story of an unknown woman, whose punishment and death on a boat of trafficked people inspired William Wilberforce to argue for the abolition of the trans-Atlantic trade in Parliament, is the basis for Shirley J Thompson's new opera The Woman Who Refused To Dance. Thompson's new piece is premiered as part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival at The Place Theatre, 17 Duke’s Road, London WC1H 9PY on 27 July 2017. The piece is written for female singer, speaker, dancer and instrumental ensemble and the premiere features Nadine Benjamin (soprano) and Tania Dimbelolo (dancer) with instrumental ensemble of Rebeca Omordia, Orphy Robinson, Marsha Skins, and Byron Wallen, directed by Anastasia Belina-Watson with choreography by Monique Jonas.
2017 is the 210th anniversary of the passing of the act abolishing the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the act passed as a result of Wilberforce's advocacy inspired by the unknown woman's story. On a boat headed from Grenada to Calabar, she was beaten and hung by her ankles until she died after refusing to dance for the ship’s captain. Her refusal was read as an act of insubordination and her punishment was meant as an example to the other enslaved persons on board. Thompson's opera not only conveys the drama of the incident, but most profoundly it represents the imagined thoughts of 'The Unknown Woman' as she hangs. Thompson presents her internal monologue, describing her idyllic past and of what her future life might have been. But the opera's narrative also feeds into dialogue about present-day human trafficking.
Full details from the Tête à Tête website.
Wednesday 26 July 2017
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...
-
Handel: Acis and Galatea - chorus - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright) Handel: Acis and Galatea ; Elizabeth Karani, Anthony Gregory, Ch...
-
2019 seemed a year for scholarship and rarity in recordings. Retrospect Opera gave us the first recording of Ethel Smyth's Fete Galan...
-
Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna - John Savournin - Opera Holland Park (Photo: Ali Wright) Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna ;...
-
Donizetti: The Elixir of Love - James Atkinson - Wild Arts 2023 (Photo: Lucy J Toms) We humans, alone on earth, are powerful enough to crea...
-
Handel: Giulio Cesare - Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Louise Alder - Glyndebourne, 2024 (Photo: © Richard Hubert Smith) Handel: Giulio Cesare in Eg...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
Andrew Norman: A Trip to the Moon - Youth Company rehearsal, Garsington Opera 2024 (Photo: Julian Guidera) American composer Andrew Norman ...
-
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - David Ireland, Claire Lees - Garsington Opera, 2024 (Photo: Julian Guidera) Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro ; David...
-
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin - James Baillieu, Julien Van Mellaerts, Christopher Purves - Opera in Song at Opera Holland Park, 2022 Opera ...
No comments:
Post a Comment