If you dont harbour too many expectations of a thought-provoking story, its worth going to see for the staging alone. The gap between failure and success in the theatre can be as narrow as a hair's breadth. She has written orchestral music for the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras. Violin I Opera; Full score; Chester Music; musicsalesclassical.com; 43308 Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. In 2014-15 there were releases of The Vanishing Bridegroom (NMC) and Storm (BBC Singers/Signum). In a face-off between Gabriele Viviani's Scarpia and Malin Bystrms Tosca in this solid revival of Jonathan Kent's 2006 production, there could only be one winner. Its not standard opera house instrumentation - even with a grand piano and much percussion, relatively small string and woodwind sections leave a fair amount of space in the usually crammed orchestra pit. Judith Weir. Firstly, when disaster strikes the family, our heroine leaves home for the mean streets of her own accord (in the original, she is cast out by her superstitious mother). RGT Birthdays today 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. Judith Weir (b1954 in Cambridge, England) first studied composition with a few lessons from John Tavener during her schooldays in London. woman.life.song. In 2014-15 there were releases of The Vanishing Bridegroom (NMC) and Storm (BBC Singers/Signum). full of truisms and clunky metaphors and for all its images of deprivation and violent disorder is about as streetwise as a visitor from Venus. Watch online from 25 March. Susan Jane Matthews, organ1929 Skinner OrganSt. A first performance of a new opera is the start of a precipitous journey. Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. Judith Weir must be considered one of the most successful Britishoperacomposers since Britten, Get priority booking for outstanding performances & access to exclusive events, 2023 Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS, See the CVs for Guildhall School Final Year Production Arts students, Production Arts teaching staff and technicians can be found on our website. Never louder than lovely would have been welcome for Weirs contorted vocals lines. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian. At least that was Weirs intention to be relevant and in touch. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Judith Weir CBE is a British composer and Master of the Queen's Music. Not something you often come across in opera. OPERA NEWS, COMMENTARY, AND REVIEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Memoirs of an Accidental Film Artist. As far as one could tell, Paul Daniel conducted a good performance. Paula Guerra Judith Weir Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. The role in Bregenz was taken up by the Prague Philharmonic Chorus, who gave touching performances while mastering illogical-looking English spellings like "rough" and "tough". Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. CONTENTS OPERA Blond Eckbert. Silly and naive. I loved the witty set (designer. Miss Fortune in name and deed. 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. Cludia Costa Gonalves, Ensembles, Programming & Instrument Manager 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. Emma Bell, singing the title role perched five metres up on a rocky plinth, only now revealed that she was scared of heights. Shana Moron-Caravel During this time she began to write a series of operas (including, As resident composer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, she wrote several works for orchestra and chorus (including, In recent years, Judith Weir has considerably expanded her choral catalogue, with regular performance by choirs worldwide of music such as her Christmas carol. Her struggles are closely shadowed by Fate sung by counter-tenor Kieron-Connor Valentine. 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. Theres usually plenty of hype surrounding a newly written opera performed at Covent Garden, but the carefully placed stories about Judith Weirs Miss Fortune are on the improbable end of the scale, featuring a flying kebab shop and a team of breakdancers. ABOVE: GSMD, Miss Fortune (c) Helen Murray, Copyright All rights reserved | Theme by, Mixed performances in Menotti and Weir from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. . Biography. Get discounted access to unmissable art, See more art, music, film and theatre for less, Log in to access bookings, re-print pdf tickets, update email preferences and check out faster. 4 booking fee per online/phone transaction. A recording of this production will be available to watch online for free after the performances. 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. Kyra Coppini, Production Sound Engineers Her opera Miss Fortune opened at the Royal Opera House in March. This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Semyon Bychkov leads a musically superior, To add a comment, please sign in or register. . Judith Weirs orchestral music is drawn from a similarly vivid palette. She teaches at Cardiff University. In the title role, Emma Bell does an admirable job of wrapping her voice around it all, without the audience ever getting a melody or a mood to remember. Alice Warburton In collaboration with director Margaret Williams, Weir has created several opera films, including Scipios Dream, Hello Dolly, and Armida. Weir was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1995 Birthday Honours for services to music. Charlotte Antingham Commissioned byBregenzFestival and the RoyalOperaHouse and premiered in 2011,Miss Fortuneis a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. 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. Guildhall School of Music & Drama Unlike in the first act, the music lets up on the never-ending tension (the strident voiceover of Fate is absent for Simon's aria), and several of the subsequent scenes are more enjoyable for it. Barbican Christian Morris talks to Judith Weir, whose new opera Miss Fortune will receive its UK premire on 12th March at the Royal Opera House. Sad to say but Judith Weirs sixth opera is an embarrassment. So I arrived at Miss Fortune without any real idea of what I was going to get. [13] Gerhard R. Koch, writing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on 25 July, had these observations: Miss Fortune moved to London in March 2012, garnering at least two negative reviews. From 1995 to 2000, she was Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival in London. She went on to Cambridge University, where her composition teacher was Robin Holloway; and in 1975 attended summer school at Tanglewood, where she worked with Gunther Schuller. 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. Longfei Wang* Miss Fortune (band), an American band Miss Fortune (album), a 2002 album by Allison Moorer Miss Fortune, an opera composed by Judith Weir "Miss Fortune", an episode of Ghost Whisperer "Miss Fortune", a song from the album Distance Inbetween by The Coral Miss Fortune, a character from the video game League of Legends See also [ edit] Secondly and crucially, Weir turns Fate into a very real and live person. Sad to say but Judith Weir's sixth opera is an embarrassment. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. The language needs sharpening to show us that this is satire. 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. Written specifically for performance on American television in 1947, Gian Carlo MenottisoperaThe Telephoneis a romantic comedy in one act, written for just two singers and a hand-picked chamber ensemble of instrumentalists. "But the good thing," she added, "is that I completely forget to worry about singing the music.". Meanwhile, the cast plunged into the nitty-gritty ("Four steps to the left, take the glass from Kathryn, turn "). Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. To book tickets visit:. Book Only. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Composer Judith Weir tells the story to her latest opera Miss Fortune at a recent Insights event at the Royal Opera House. Miss Fortune in name and deed. Much of her music has been recorded, and is available on the NMC, Delphian and Signum labels. Caroline Moores, Head of Recording & Audio Visual Night AT the Chinese Opera (A) (1987) Operas. Thereafter, she encounters various low wage earners sweatshop workers (a chorus of seamstresses), a fast-food vendor (Florian Panzieri) and a laundrette owner (Laura Fleur). The much-publicised breakdancers of Chen Shi-Zengs efficient but actually rudimentary staging only serve to highlight how irrelevant Weirs musical language is to her conception. Are launderettes, kebab vans and bankers really the stuff of opera? But at least all other elements of this colourful staging coalesced into something that intermittently held my attention. Two outstanding performances by young singers light up a splendidly crafted revival of Caurier and Leiser's colourful production. [9], Weir is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. 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. Ben Mills, Deputy Stage ManagerAndrea Stier Andersen, Assistant Stage Managers Set within Bayview Developments, an exclusive estate agents (where clients are assured of no social housing) we meet the sales girl and chatterbox Lucy, Segomotso Shupinyaneng, and the ever-patient and earnest Ben, Jonathan Eyers. Simon, a wealthy young man Jack Holton (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Jonathan Eyers (2 & 7 Mar), Chorus of sweatshop workers and party guests: Luna De Mol, Violin II Judith Weir is a composer who, despite a huge body of work that ranges from grand operas to piano concertos to songs for children, has never sought the limelight. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Asked to fall to the ground in terror at news of an approaching financial disaster, they ask, "Like in Idomeneo?" Judith Weirsoperais a story aboutTinaand how her life dramaticallychanges course overnight; it is a story aboutfateand fortune. What drew you to composition? My reworking begins with a financial crash and ends with an unlikely lottery win - yet I didn't set out to write a piece about. Justin Anderson Last month, as we reconvened in London to rehearse for this week's UK debut, conductor Paul Daniel considered the problems. The subject of this piece was inspired by the Barbican building itself she describes it as 'an imaginary excavation of the Barbican Centre, burrowing through 2,500 years of historical rubble'. The opera reworks a Sicilian folktale as a contemporary parable. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2012. Amongst her priorities in this role are the support of school music teachers, of amateur orchestras and choirs, and of rural festivals. Interview by She struggles, wins the lottery, casts aside money and goes off with the handsome prince, in his mercifully clean shirt. BBC Radio 3. Dominic Wheeler conductorMartin Lloyd-Evans directorAnna Reid designerAnthony Doran lighting designerJoseph Beesley assistant conductorRachel Wise assistant director/movement, Lucy England Segomotso Shupinyaneng (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Ellie Neate (2 & 7 Mar) What you think of Miss Fortunes music will depend very much on personal tastes: I found it music to admire rather than to love. Bogdan Skrypka In a stunning setting and scenery to rival these beautiful surroundings, Miss Fortune, the work of British composer Judith Weir, retraces the twisted steps of its bewildered female protagonist. Throughout the opera, in an impressive piece of singing, counter-tenor Andrew Watts sings a discordant overlay over the other music, reminding everyone that he is all-powerful and capricious. 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]. Dominic Stokes* 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. Miss Fortune. The opera touches on many things relevant to modern life - the banking crisis, unemployment, sweatshop working conditions, the choice between money and love - but it doesnt have anything significant to say about any of them. Where Weirs orchestral writing is full and rich, the vocal parts are for the most part agile and harsh. Miss Fortune . 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? I hope that does not mean more trapeziums, please. Nonetheless, having written her own libretto as well as the music, she was easy prey. But this time round, it seemed even more relevant than to pay onstage attention to this subject. S,Mz,Ct,T,Bar,bbar + 2(II:pic).1.3(III:bcl).1+cbn/, A series of performances taking place in London over the coming weeks shines a spotlight on the rich and varied output of composer Judith Weir, Spotlight on Judith Weir including orchestral works, opera and a world premiere. Her music often draws on sources from medieval history, as well as the traditional stories and music of her parents' homeland, Scotland. [2] See something missing? What doesnt change, at least in the 53 minute first act, is her accenting: the music is continually using devices to ratchet up the tension - chromatics, diminished and augmented chords. When the curtain rose on the UK premiere of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune at the Royal Opera House, one thing at least was clear: this bright, coarse staging by Shi-Zheng Chen would flog the living daylights out of the opera's frail, pale construct, inflate it grotesquely beyond its natural size and, by this eye-catching but totally irrelevant visual aeration, render it all but nonsensical. It didnt help that the singing from Rossington and Valentine lacked clarity and I had to second guess some of their dialogue. 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. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. We remain indifferent to Miss Fortune (however persuasively sung by a red-wigged Emma Bell), her vulgar nouveau parents who lose their riches, the sharp-suited romantic interest, Simon (the lovely Jacques Imbrailo). For more information visit their website, Hear music by Judith Weir online at Spotify. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. I've had the misfortune of reading a few reviews already, and so far I seem to be flying solo on actually recommending it - but I do think the basic ingredients are there. Age 14-25? By the end of the act, I was finding it all rather wearing, and theres little in the way of flowing vocal lines to lift the heart. Iza Fordham She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events. The once-rich little heroine, dogged by cruel Fate, becomes a low-wage earner cue sweatshops, ironing boards, an imploding fast-food van. David Karlin reviews the premire of Judith Weir's new opera Miss Fortune at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Nuestra poltica de privacidad se actualiz por ltima vez el viernes 31 enero 2020 Consultar aqu Eliminar Miku Yasukawa 559. Much of her music has been recorded, and is available on the NMC, Delphian and Signum labels. In London, the tricky proposition of portraying a chaotic cloud has been undertaken by Soul Mavericks, breakdancers with an amazing ability to perform hundreds of complex patterns, often in mid-air. Judith Weir Biography Recordings Related Composers Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. 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. I decided to use the tale as a basis for a new opera. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. . 9 Bavarian Radio Sinfonieorchester/Rattle, GRAMOPHONE Review: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. Last year's Bregenz staging, the work's world premiere, was an opportunity to take strong action. 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.