Music Theatre Wales to tour new operas after Edinburgh International Festival Premieres

Music Theatre Wales announces a national tour of new operas by Huw Watkins and Stuart MacRae. The operas will receive their world premieres at the 2012 Edinburgh International Festival.

The operas, co-commissioned and co-produced with Scottish Opera, explore the potency of imagination and the overwhelming power of memories. In the Locked Room, composed by Huw Watkins and Ghost Patrol, composed by Stuart MacRae will be performed as a double-bill in eight venues following their world premieres in Scotland, including the dates listed below:

Tour dates

August 30 Edinburgh* (World Premiere at Edinburgh International Festival)

September 1,2 Edinburgh*

September 6,7 Glasgow*

September 27, 28, 29 ROH2, London**

October 2 Cambridge**

October 9 Basingstoke**

October 30 Aberystwyth**

November 2 Cardiff**

Further venue information & touring dates tba

*with players from the Orchestra of Scottish Opera

** with The Music Theatre Wales Ensemble

These new co-productions are the next step in a growing partnership between Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera, which underlines the commitment of both companies to commissioning new work and their combined interest in exploring what opera might mean in the 21st century.

Composers Huw Watkins and Stuart MacRae are rapidly establishing themselves amongst the UK's leading composers. Both team up with former collaborators – Watkins with poet and librettist David Harsent (The Minotaur for Harrison Birtwistle), and MacRae with acclaimed crime novelist Louise Welsh (The Cutting Room) with whom he created Remembrance Day for Scottish Opera's Five:15 Operas Made in Scotland series.

Watkins' In the Locked Room begins with a closed door that sparks an obsession so strong that the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur, while MacRae locates his opera Ghost Patrol in a modern day bar where three people trying to escape their past collide, uncovering a terrible secret and unleashing inevitable tragedy.

In the Locked Room is directed by Michael McCarthy and Ghost Patrol is directed by Matthew Richardson. Both operas are designed by Samal Blak with lighting by Ace McCarron. For the performances in Edinburgh and Glasgow Michael Rafferty will conduct players from the Orchestra of Scottish Opera; the UK tour, also conducted by Michael Rafferty, will feature The Music Theatre Wales Ensemble.

The cast for In the Locked Room features Ruby Hughes (Ella), Louise Winter (Susan), Paul Curievici (Stephen) and Haken Vramsmo (Pascoe). In Ghost Patrol Jane Harrington is Vicki, Nicholas Sharratt is Sam and James McOran-Campbell is Alasdair.

Press Contact for Music Theatre Wales:

Faith Wilson, Faith Wilson Arts Publicity

Tel: 0794 113 7453

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WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING OF PHILIP GLASS OPERA IN THE PENAL COLONY RELEASED ON CD

Music Theatre Wales's UK premiere production of Philip Glass's one-act opera, In the Penal Colony is released on CD on February 20, 2012.

This world premiere recording, conducted by MTW's Music Director Michael Rafferty, is released on the composer's own music label, Orange Mountain Music. It marks a further episode in the enterprising Welsh company's deepening relationship with America's most celebrated composer.

Philip Glass' gripping one-act chamber opera, based on a story by Franz Kafka, was composed and premiered in 2000 by A Contemporary Theater in Seattle. The libretto is by Rudolph Wurlitzer.

Music Theatre Wales's gave the UK Premiere performances of In the Penal Colony in 2010 in a widely admired twelve-date UK tour.

The story.…

A condemned man is about to be executed. The Officer describes the execution machine to the Visitor, detailing its conception, its construction, and finally its method. The method of execution is the most horrific and inhumane imaginable. The Officer's zealous dedication to this method is based on his belief that the machine has the power to bring about a moment of transfiguration in the victim, the moment they understand the crime they have committed. When the Officer realizes that his beliefs will no longer be accepted, there is only one course left. The real horror of the machine is now revealed.

Scored for string quintet (drawn from the Music Theatre Wales Ensemble) and two singers, this world premiere recording by Music Theatre Wales is under the direction of Michael Rafferty, with tenor Michael Bennett as the Visitor and baritone Omar Ebrahim as the Officer.

The studio recording was made at the Angel Recording Studios in November 2010.

Philip Glass found the experience of working with Music Theatre Wales so obviously rewarding that he has offered to write another 'Kafka' opera for the company – this time based on The Trial. As in In the Penal Colony, it will be intimate in scale and dark and claustrophobic in atmosphere. The opera is due for production in 2014 and it will mark the culmination of Music Theatre Wales's 25th anniversary.

CD Release: February 20, 2012 (UK)

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MUSIC THEATRE WALES WINS PRESTIGIOUS UK THEATRE AWARD

FOR ITS PRODUCTION OF TURNAGE'S GREEK

Music Theatre Wales wins Outstanding Achievement in Opera award, beating off opera's big hitters.

Music Theatre Wales has won a prestigious Theatre Award UK for its production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera, Greek, currently on tour.

Michael McCarthy's visceral production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's precocious first opera – a raunchy re-write of the Oedipus myth set in the East End – received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, where it faced formidable competition from two of opera's big hitters – Opera North and Canadian baritone Gerald Finley for his performance in Wagner's Meistersinger at Glyndebourne.

Music Theatre Wales, based in Cardiff, is a pioneering force in contemporary opera in Britain, with an established international reputation.

The winners of Theatre Awards UK were announced at a lunchtime ceremony at the Banqueting House in Whitehall on Sunday, October 30. The re-launched annual Theatre and Theatre Management Awards are given to honour creative excellence and the outstanding work seen on stages throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Produced in association with Brecon's Theatr Brycheiniog, where it opened earlier this year, MTW's production of Greek, Turnage's contemporary classic, has collected unanimously glowing reviews throughout its countrywide tour. The Observer's critic commented: "This brilliant chamber opera...still retains all its excoriating force in Music Theatre Wales's compact new staging", while The Guardian's critic declared: "it's a compliment to say it sometimes feels like an operatic Eastenders special."

Now there's just one chance left to see this exceptional production on the current tour at Wales' newest theatre, The Riverfront, Newport on Thursday, November 10 (Booking: www.newport.gov.uk/theRiverfront), but the company hopes to bring it back in autumn 2013.

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MUSIC THEATRE WALES NOMINATED FOR UK THEATRE AWARD

FOR ITS PRODUCTION OF TURNAGE'S GREEK

- David and Goliath contest as MTW goes head-to-head with Opera North and Glyndebourne for Outstanding Achievement in Opera award

Music Theatre Wales has been nominated for a prestigious Theatre Award UK for its production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera, Greek, currently on tour.

Michael McCarthy's visceral production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's precocious first opera – a raunchy re-write of the Oedipus myth set in the East End - is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, where it is up against formidable competition from two of opera's big hitters – Opera North and Canadian baritone Gerald Finley for his performance in Wagner's Meistersinger at Glyndebourne.

The winners of Theatre Awards UK will be announced on Sunday, October 30 at a lunchtime ceremony at the Banqueting House in Whitehall. The re-launched annual Theatre and Theatre Management Awards are given to honour creative excellence and the outstanding work seen on stages throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Produced in association with Brecon's Theatr Brycheiniog, where it opened earlier this year, MTW's production of Turnage's contemporary classic has collected unanimously glowing reviews throughout its countrywide tour. The Observer's critic commented: "This brilliant chamber opera...still retains all its excoriating force in Music Theatre Wales's compact new staging", while The Guardian's critic declared: "it's a compliment to say it sometimes feels like an operatic Eastenders special."

There are just three chances left to see this exceptional production on the current tour:

Tuesday, October 11 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre

Wednesday, October 26 - Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

Thursday, November 10 - The Riverfront, Newport

It was with Greek, commissioned by Hans Werner Henze for the Munich Biennale in 1988 and based on a play by Steven Berkoff, that the young Mark-Anthony Turnage first burst on to the international scene. The young composer's wide frame of stylistic reference – ranging from rock and jazz to high-art – and his vivid dramatic gift have made Greek into a contemporary classic. Within 18 months of its premiere, the opera was presented by the Edinburgh Festival, on BBC TV and by ENO, and has since been seen across the world.

In Michael McCarthy's new production, Michael Rafferty conducts the Music Theatre Wales Ensemble in a musical score that runs the gamut from football chants through snatches of jazz and rock to passages of real lyricism. The cast includes baritone Marcus Farnsworth as Eddy, the opera's seedy, restless protagonist. Soprano Sally Silver sings the role of Mum, mezzo Louise Winter is Wife and baritone Gwion Thomas sings the role of Dad. In keeping with the production's mood of rough physicality, they also play a number of other roles. The opera is designed by Simon Banham, with lighting by Ace McCarron.

Music Theatre Wales's new production of Greek is a timely revival, coming in the same year as the premiere of Turnage's latest opera, Anna Nicole, at the Royal Opera House.

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The Stage

"In this economical staging designed by Simon Banham and directed by Michael McCarthy, it reasserts its position as a contemporary classic …

… what stops the work feeling like a period piece is the power and pungency of Turnage’s consistently inventive score, a tour de force of stylistic mixes and matches carried off with brilliance.

Michael Rafferty conducts a tip-top performance with no weak links and a virtuoso orchestra … Marcus Farnsworth’s Eddy is dark, dangerous yet strangely likeable, while the versatile trio of Sally Silver, Louise Winter and Gwion Thomas double and triple up in all the other parts. Definitely a show to catch on its autumn tour."

Read all George Hall's review in The Stage here

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The Opera Critic

"As an ensemble, the singers present the opera with a verve which is matched by the orchestra, conducted by Michael Rafferty. Lyrical or discordant, there is an immediacy about this performance which draws and holds the audience's attention."

Read all Catriona Graham's review for The Opera Critic here

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**** The Herald

"At first glance, Greek, the chamber opera from Mark-Anthony Turnage, looks like an omnibus episode of EastEnders. And it’s just as entertaining. Opening with expletives that perhaps kept the usual well-heeled opera crowd away, the plot whips along at a dizzying pace …

… The action, played out like a comic strip along the front of the stage, verges towards physical theatre – probably very familiar to recent Fringe audiences, but a welcome change in the opera world."

Rosenna East - The Herald

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**** The Scotsman

"Michael McCarthy's minimalist, hard-hitting production for Music Theatre Wales is direct and unsparing … As the angry East Ender, Marcus Farnsworth is fiercely compelling, virile yet tormented, belting from the back rows and onto the stage bellowing "get out my f**ing way!", his downfall conveyed with a memorable howl of horror and splash of ketchup even as he resists Oedipus' s fate. Louise Winter, Gwion Thomas and Sally Silver are excellent support"

Jay Richardson - The Scotsman

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**** The Times

"Beware it’s in yer face as never before. Greek, Mark Anthony Turnage’s first opera was hard-hitting 23 years ago at the Munich Biennale. Now, in the context of his later work (particularly his recent little shocker Anna Nicole) and in an intimate new touring production for Music Theatre Wales, Greek goes for the viscera.

Michael McCarthy’s new, minimalist production … [is] a paring down, which … gloriously liberates Turnage’s most instinctive of scores to sound out the work’s true theatre of pity and fear.

Marcus Farnsworth is the most convincing Eddy I’ve ever seen; he embodies the anguished, violently truth-seeking youth in a riveting performance. Gwion Thomas is no less engaging as dad, café manager and policemen. And Sally Silver as Eddy’s distraught Mum joins her voice with that of Louise Winter’s sensual Wife to form a two-headed Sphinx of virtuoso terror."

Hilary Finch - The Times

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**** Daily Telegraph

"The enthusiastic applause the performance received was primarily a tribute to the force and brilliance of Mark Anthony Turnage’s incandescent score, blisteringly realised in a first-rate new production by Music Theatre Wales … Michael McCarthy’s staging is exemplary … the award-winning young baritone Marcus Farnsworth is electrifying … Admirable support is offered by Sally Silver, Louise Winter and Gwion Thomas doubling up in various roles, and there’s a crack orchestra cool-headedly conducted by Michael Rafferty"

Read the full Daily Telegraph review by Rupert Christiansen here

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'The whole thing is done as a strip cartoon, with plenty of pow and zap but nothing to frighten the kids'

"Turnage's Greek is a musical work par excellence: not exactly music drama – too much speech for that – but a work whose musicality suggests a stylisation which defuses the violence and reignites it as feeling. It's one of the best things about Michael McCarthy's new production for Music Theatre Wales at Brecon's Theatr Brycheiniog that it draws on this quality specifically and places it centre stage."

Read all of Stephen Walsh's reveiw for The Arts Desk here

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**** The Guardian

"There's nothing complex about Music Theatre Wales's new production: it's sharp, direct and, of necessity, tragic. Angry young man Eddy doesn't know he's adopted, leaves his parents, kills a man – his biological dad – in a caff, falls in love with the wife (his mum). With the 18-piece ensemble hogging space behind, action is at the front of stage, an England flag draped on the podium. Eddy's personal crusade is made vividly contemporary: football-driven, disaffection, London streets full of rubbish, musicians pounding baton shields …

… it's a compliment to say it sometimes feels like an operatic Eastenders special – the Sphinx women sport Barbara Windsor wigs. The ketchup container proves iconic, and Turnage scores here."

Read the full Guardian review by Rian Evans here

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MTW to present a new production of Greek

Music Theatre Wales is to present a new production of Greek, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s vivid, angry re-working of the Oedipus myth for Thatcher’s Britain

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Sean Rafferty interviews Philip Glass

Listen to Sean Rafferty’s interview with Philip Glass on Radio 3’s In Tune (Broadcast on Tuesday 14 September 2010)

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Brand New Philip Glass Opera for MTW 2013 …

Music Theatre Wales has announced that the American composer Philip Glass will write a new chamber opera expressly for the company, based on the Kafka short story, The Trial.

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Critical acclaim for MTW’s recording of Michael Berkeley’s For You

Read some of the reviews for Music Theatre Wales’ recording of For You

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Music Theatre Wales’s Production of For You released on CD

Music Theatre Wales’s 2008 World Premiere production of Michael Berkeley and Ian McEwan’s passionate and darkly comic opera For You is now available as a 2CD set