This is a libretto which vacillates between the banal and the unintentionally comedic (or is that irony?) JUDITH WEIR AT 70 OPERAS. Two days after this premiere, the Royal Opera House announced the 2012/2013 new season and defended contemporary work as adventure, not measured by normal standards of success. More information, Don't have an online account? Charlie Broad In 2014-15 there were releases of The Vanishing Bridegroom (NMC) and Storm (BBC Singers/Signum). On 30 June 2014, The Guardian stated that her appointment as Master of the Queen's Music,[5] succeeding Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (whose term of office expired in March 2014), would be announced;[6] this was officially confirmed on 21 July. Nicole Ma, Percussion a reference to Mozart's great scene where people on a beach are menaced by a sea monster. Florian Panzieri as the kebab seller Hassan impressed with his clear tenor and mezzo-soprano Laura Fleur as Donna brought verisimilitude to her scenes at the laundrette. Hoodies and drug dealing delineate subsequent reversal of fortune for Tina whose seamstress colleagues (vocally in fine fettle) provided an opportunity for some highly effective choreography. Opera; Full score; Chester Music; musicsalesclassical.com; 43308 ears ago, I read an Italian folk tale about a princess who, when her parents lose their money, is forced to live in poverty and make a living: weaving cloth, minding a wine store, washing clothes. And Im not sure I want to think too hard about the statements it does make: for example, the breakdancing team Soul Mavericks are superb, but theyre cast as stereotypical hoodlums wrecking things with baseball bats. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Gian Carlo Menotti The TelephoneLucy Segomotso Shupinyaneng, Ben Jonathan Eyers. Leif Tse, Repetiteurs Alaric Green [21] Andrew Clements wrote in The Guardian of "a long two hours in the opera house" with scenes that "follow like cartoonish tableaux, without real characterisation, or confrontation, and without suggesting a dramatic shape", and also criticised the "twee rhyming couplets and inert blank verse" of Weir's libretto. As Miss Fortune sings of entering the "shadows" and "dark streets" of the real world, she's set upon by six representatives of this rough shadowy place, a gang of bopping black thugs, who go on to destroy the factory she's working for and torch a kebab van she finds herself taking shelter in. Tobias Campos Santinaque Also known as Achterbahn (rollercoaster), this apt allegory on fate - and the control we have over our own lives - delivers a timely update on the Italian folk tale Sfortuna. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. No fee when tickets are booked in person. Whether were in the initial scene of the casting of our heroines horoscope, the various pieces of mayhem that envelop her or the poetic aubade sung by kebab-shop owner Hassan: the music is overlaid by urgent stridency. For Barbican performances, enter through the mainBarbican Centre entrance in Silk Street. In this role she has written music for national and royal occasions, including the Queens 90th birthday celebrations and the UKs official commemoration of the 1918 Armistice. A new production of an earlier opera is always welcome news, to its composer at least, and it doesn't feel right to term these "revivals" - implying that resuscitation or even raising from the dead has been necessary. Malena Benavent Her struggles are closely shadowed by Fate sung by counter-tenor Kieron-Connor Valentine. Lord Fortune - Alan Ewing. After this she spent several years working in schools and adult education in rural southern England; followed by a period based in Scotland, teaching at Glasgow University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The opera reworks a Sicilian folktale as a contemporary parable. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Menottis parade of operatic models coloratura showpiece, rage aria and lament were effortlessly pointed up and the rapport between the singers was communicated with both tenderness and impatience. Its probably not a good idea to come to Miss Fortune looking either for deep meaning or for authentic folktale. Silly and naive. 024 IN 2. Paula Guerra It was a co-commission between two big opera houses (Bregenz and the Royal Opera House) - and it will also have a new production in Santa Fe in a couple of years time. Serendipity, rather than the fate which clings to the protagonist of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune, led me to catch the last night of a double-cast spectacular at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.What a tonic to find a top-notch young cast and orchestra working their disciplined socks off for conductor Dominic Wheeler and director Martin Lloyd-Evans after the dog's dinner of English . . The upper floor of The Telephones split staging neatly morphed into Miss Fortunes roof top balcony where Harrison and Holyland made their mark as the nouveau riche parents of Tina. Never louder than lovely would have been welcome for Weirs contorted vocals lines. Luna De Mol, Violin II Since a central theme of Miss Fortune is the big part accident and chance play in life, I wanted to write a role for Fate, who emerges from the shadows whenever events take a downward or upward turn, accompanied by his own personal cloud of chaos. [10] In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Weir is far from incapable of working on a large canvas, but Miss Fortune is surely a chamber opera. It was a co-production with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London, and was written in English. Based on a Sicilian folk tale, Miss Fortune has some of the elliptical angularity of Weir's successful A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987). This new co-production receives its UK premiere in March 2012. Miss Fortune moved to London in March 2012, garnering at least two negative reviews. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. But this time round, it seemed even more relevant than to pay onstage attention to this subject. Judith Weir. Giulia Lussoso . Honours for her work include the Critics Circle, South Bank Show, Ivor Novello and Elise L Stoeger awards, a CBE and The Queens Medal for Music. Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. Discover Judith Weir sheet music on nkoda.Find 133 Judith Weir pieces from leading publishers on the greatest digital sheet music library. Not something you often come across in opera. Each time her luck seems to take a turn for the better, she is beset by another misfortune until eventually, through a magical stroke of luck, she gains the hand of a prince, in town to collect his laundry. In spite of all this, the libretto has some decent moments, particularly in the short second act in which Weir lets her hair down a little. I decided to use the tale as a basis for a new opera. Christos Maltezos* If nothing has changed musically, this small staging worked well, at least in dramatic terms with terrific visuals and spot on acting. Either way, it makes a good spectacle. Frustration, frivolity and humour were all brilliantly served with a ready spontaneity that, with the chamber orchestras crisp playing, made this a delightful hors doeuvres for the darker humour of the evenings main event. Both the score and the individual performances Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. Hugo Haag, Cello Did the huge generic trapezium in the middle of the stage represent the dizzying moral precipice over which we mortals all too often hurl ourselves, especially in the name of making opera? The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at . Where Weirs orchestral writing is full and rich, the vocal parts are for the most part agile and harsh. As associate composer with the BBC Singers (2015-19) she completed two oratorios; In the Land of Uz, about the prophet Job; and blue hills beyond blue hills, to Zen-influenced verse by the Scottish poet Alan Spence. Miss Fortune Operas. Iza Fordham She was commissioned to compose an a cappella work for the state funeral of Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022, and wrote a setting of Psalm 42, "Like as the hart".[17]. The result is closer to a classical myth in which the central message is that theres no point arguing with the gods. She studied with John Tavener while at the North London Collegiate School[3] and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976. If your booking contains several events the highest booking fee will apply. But Miss Fortune is warm and fuzzy where it should be hard and edgy, its a social fable with contemporary resonances in everything but its words and music, and worst of all its an adult opera which sounds like its spoon feeding amateur philosophy to a child. Natalie Alfille-Cook Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Susan Jane Matthews, organ1929 Skinner OrganSt. Above all, I felt justified in having written the opera in the first place. 1 / 3. So I arrived at Miss Fortune without any real idea of what I was going to get. . Judith Weir CBE (born 1954) is a British composer and the first female Master of the Queen's Music. Donna, proprietor of a laundry Laura Fleur (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Amy Holyland (2 & 7 Mar) Katie Wong, Production Assistants Miss Fortune is based on a Sicilian folk tale, and Weir's own libretto abstracts the story and creates a sort of moral fable that rather reminded me of Georg Kaiser's From Morning to Midnight and David Sawer's brave attempt to turn it into an opera in 2001 at English National Opera. To those who ask what material like this is doing in an opera house, I can only reply that this story allowed me to write both opera and folk music at the same time, to invent work songs for modern jobs like dry cleaning, and to find present-day uses for beautiful operatic forms, such as the aubade, or dawn song which Hassan sings while tending his kebab van. Judith Weir has a net worth of $5.00 million (Estimated) which she earned from her occupation as Musician. Judith Weir. The composer Judith Weir wrote the opening work for last year's Proms. She was a visiting distinguished research professor in composition at Cardiff University from 2006 to 2009. Strahinja Mitrovic, Clarinet Sad to say but Judith Weirs sixth opera is an embarrassment. Miss Fortune . Years ago, I read an Italian folk tale about a princess who, when her parents lose their money, is forced to live in poverty and make a living: weaving cloth, minding a wine store, washing clothes. "But the good thing," she added, "is that I completely forget to worry about singing the music.". Called Miss Fortune, the story is about money, fate and fortune. Simon, a wealthy young man Jack Holton (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Jonathan Eyers (2 & 7 Mar), Chorus of sweatshop workers and party guests: 4 - Julia Kleitner, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Gatti, A Conversation With LIISA RANDALU: Schumann Quartet release 2nd CD, ENCOUNTERS: Edward Seckerson talks to Broadway composer LUCY SIMON, Edward Seckerson talks to RENE FLEMING about The Light in the Piazza, A Conversation With VASILY PETRENKO: RLPO Shostakovich Symphonies, A Conversation With SIR PAUL McCARTNEY: BBC Radio 4 Kaleidoscope, A Conversation With VICTORIA WOOD: New TV drama, Loving Miss Hatto, A Conversation With DAVID McVICAR & SARAH CONNOLLY: Charpentiers Medea, GRAMOPHONE Review: Shostakovich Symphony No. How come that trumpet B-flat sounded so great in the Austrian Alps, but in London was clearly a wrong note? Now in her 50s, she is too experienced, too knowledgable about the bloodied history of most operatic endeavour to have expected to get off lightly. The language needs sharpening to show us that this is satire. Violetta Suvini* She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. I hope that does not mean more trapeziums, please. Sad because Weir's folk inspired fables have won many friends, sad because she is a composerly composer whose luminous orchestral backdrops and singable vocal lines display an honest talent that never hides behind overworked technique. But I personally have been feeling thoroughly revived after GSMD's energy-giving version of my 2011 opera "Miss Fortune" which opened at the beginning of March. Noah Stewart as Hassan and Emma Bell as Tina in the Royal Opera's production of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and conducted. For Rap read rhyming couplets. The evening began with a compelling staging of Menottis frothy score, a romantic two-hander with music somewhere between Broadway and Italian verismo and first performed in the UK at the Aldwych Theatre in 1948. She has also created new music for many community groups and schools, including Burntwood School Wandsworth, Aberdeen Art Gallery, St Marys Church Dover and Greenacre School, Barnsley. She had taken a hiatus to focus her energies on a host of other endeavours including orchestral composition and leading the BBC's annual composer weekend at the Barbican in 2008. In collaboration with director Margaret Williams, Weir has created several opera films, including Scipios Dream, Hello Dolly, and Armida. And did the previous orchestra really play that F-natural all last summer and we never noticed? . Secondly and crucially, Weir turns Fate into a very real and live person. . Judith Weir Miss FortuneLord Fortune Jacob Harrison, Lady Fortune Amy Holyland, Tina Erin Gwyn Rossington, Fate Kieron-Connor Valentine, Hassan Florian Panzieri, Donna Laura Fleur, Simon Jack Holton; Director Martin Lloyd-Evans, Conductor Dominic Wheeler, Designer Anna Reid, Lighting Anthony Doran, GSMD Orchestra. The clarity of the costume design made the characters instantly knowable, too: a stroppy teenager, a lady from a launderette, a positive-thinking businessman these types look the same anywhere. Mario Gutirrez Gorria, Viola She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Judith Weir. DAME PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE: Facing The Music - A Life in Musical Theatre, Meyerbeer "Robert Le Diable", Royal Opera House (Review), GRAMOPHONE Review: Bartk Duke Bluebeard's Castle - Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/Mlkki, GRAMOPHONE Review: Prokofiev Symphonies 1 & 7/Lieutenant Kij Suite - Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Sokhiev, GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. The kebab shop and the breakdancers are great, but Tom Pyes sets have much more: giant, mirror-smooth geometric structures are brightly lit in primary colours and turned by video effects into a shifting industrial landscape, all set against a plain screen background lit with vividly coloured gradients. Our website uses cookies to give you the best possible experience. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian. But with few exceptions Weir has created cardboard characters that neither claim our attention nor engage our sympathy. He is a musical omnivore interested in almost all types of music, but with a particular love of Italian opera. Stanley Olden, Scenic Art Co-ordinator Jack Garner-Greene Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email. Antonio Daz Fernndez This is a libretto which vacillates between the banal and the unintentionally comedic (or is that irony?) 559. Miss Fortune is Birtish composer Judith Weir's first operatic composisition in the last 17 years. She held the post of Composer in Association for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 1998. Queasy chromatic scales rising and falling in the trombones is as close as we get to the dark happenings on the street. Beat Erro Dez, Horn But I personally have been feeling thoroughly revived after. Are launderettes, kebab vans and bankers really the stuff of opera? . So, turning convention on its head, weve a fatalistic riches-to-rags tale transposed from a Sicilian original and relocated in time and place to take account of the financial ills and social unrest of the here and now. Everyone is meaner, more downcast, more jubilant. Both portrayals were wonderfully convincing musically and dramatically, each singer having an easy stage presence and voices that hold the ear with roundness of tone and crystal-clear diction.