February 2012 Newsletter
Would you Adam and Eve it?
MTW's production of Greek wins the 2011 Theatrical Management Award (TMA) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera
Greek was a gift - one of those productions that from the first day of rehearsals brought nothing but pleasure to everyone involved.
As a starting point we had a fabulous work, courtesy of Mark-Anthony Turnage and Steven Berkoff. All thoughts that the opera might be dated and stuck in an eighties time warp were quickly swept away.
Throughout the rehearsal period the bond between cast and artistic team grew, culminating in Mark himself joining us for the production week in Brecon prior to the opening at Theatr Brycheiniog on 2 July.
We knew that we had something special on our hands and winning the TMA award was undoubtedly the icing on the cake. But even without that icing, feedback from cast, musicians, critics and audiences was more than enough to tell us that this production had hit a chord with many.
"Music Theatre Wales have made my opera live again. I never expected such a wonderful production. Every aspect of these Greek performances is superb. A fabulous orchestra and the finest cast it's ever had, along with an amazingly powerful production. Bravo to everyone concerned. Not surprised it's already won an award.
Composers are very lucky when they are championed by such a world class company. I know from other composers who have been lucky enough to have their work played by MTW how high you are all regarded. Really looking forward to the two new operas by Huw Watkins and Stuart MacRae next year, and hope Greek gets to be played in London soon." Mark-Anthony Turnage (Composer)
Spring Release for Glass CD
December saw the US release of the world premiere recording by Music Theatre Wales of Philip Glass’s opera In the Penal Colony on the composer’s record label, Orange Mountain Music. The UK release follows this spring.
Scored for string quintet and two singers, the recording retains the same cast and artistic team as our 2010 production with Michael Rafferty conducting tenor Michael Bennett as the Visitor, baritone Omar Ebrahim as the Officer accompanied by Miranda Fulleylove, Philippa Mo (violins), Gustav Clarkson (viola), Chris Allan (cello) and Kenneth Knussen (double bass).
In the Penal Colony is based on Franz Kafka’s short story of the same name. The opera was first performed by A Contemporary Theater in Seattle in 2000. Music Theatre Wales gave the UK premiere at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre in September 2010 before touring the production to venues in Wales, England and Scotland.
So how should I sing it?
Julie Nugent, a post graduate student at Birmingham City University offers her thoughts on being a first time librettist after taking part in the Make an Aria project we ran in Birmingham last year.
Aria – musical term, originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment.
Libretto - the text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition.
In December 2010, I was invited to take part in a project that Welsh National Opera and Music Theatre Wales were running in conjunction with Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Conservatoire. The exercise was to ‘Make an Aria’, where writers and composers were brought together, to do exactly that.
Through a twisted form of speed-dating, writers were matched to musicians; and all of us recast as librettists and composers. We sat together awkwardly, a little shy and apprehensive as we waited for our brief. The material was passed around: a handful of sentences with which to stake out ideas. As discussions began, the energy crackled; the partnerships took shape.
An aria is like a soliloquy – a protagonist addressing the audience whilst time is suspended. It is focused and precise, like a beautiful paragraph or a well-crafted scene. If you get it right, then everything you wanted to say about plot and character and image and theme crystallises in a word, a line, a set of musical notes.
Such exactness is not won easily. To be clear about the aria, I had to be clear about everything else: to know the secrets of my hero, what he wanted, what he was scared of, what he needed to succeed. The aria had to be located firmly in a plot, with a clear sense of where the story started and where it would end. And, as a piece of opera, I felt it had to live up to the scale – tell the macro through the micro; a hero’s quest, a search for meaning….
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