Opera
on the programme tonight - or as Nigel Wrench writes:
"A civil war, a bloody feud, and a wedding. It's opera, not real life. And it's on PM this afternoon, set in Britain in 2080, called The Sacrifice.
This is James MacMillan, the composer and conductor doing something with his hands outside the Wales Millennium Centre where The Sacrifice has its first performance on Saturday. Nigel was at the last dress rehearsal yesterday and that's where he took these pictures. Here's James MacMillan conducting:
And two scenes from the opera:
And here's James MacMillan (blurred, centre, Nigel says no flash was allowed) taking a bow with the cast:
Nigel talks to James MacMillan on PM tonight and you can hear the first recording of parts of The Sacrifice broadcast anywhere. The whole opera is on Radio Three on October 13th if that's whetted your appetite.
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Am intrigued. I presume its in English? Am wracking my brain but don't think I've ever heard an opera sung in my first language. (I suddenly feel a bit of a philistine.)
Do you mean that you have never heard any of the Savoy Operas by Gilbert & Sullivan, witchi (1)? You philistine, you ;o)
H.
Ah, Humph, of course....my synapses are obviously not connecting today (I blame the mucus). Oh, does the Greene Knight count? Maybe I'm not so dappy after all.
Was there a risk assessment done before the conductor climbed on that chair? I'm worried. They don't usually do that sort of thing. Not in the contract.
Reminds me of my favourite orchestral musician joke (probably a viola joke actually, but, hey, it could be any of us....)
A viola player was away sick from a concert one night. Came back to work in the orchestra the next day, said to his desk partner :
"Who was conducting last night?"
Other viola player answered:
"Dunno, sorry. Didn't look"
Humph, G&S are classed as operettas (as you well know!), but we do have writers of serious opera, not least of which was Mr. Britten.
Anyway, there is a venue in London where opera is always sung in English, and a very fine company they are, too. Long live the ENO!
Is that really the Wales Millenium Centre? The stage looks more like a village hall somewhere (Dibley, perhaps?)
Annasee (4), Better him than that bride. Blimey, she's a big lass!
But surely it's being sung in Welsh?