For Barbican performances, enter through the mainBarbican Centre entrance in Silk Street. When her life's course turns from bad to worse, she makes a date with Fate. When the curtain rose on the UK premiere of Judith Weir's. Judith Weirs Miss Fortune did not have a favourable reception when it premiered at Covent Garden in 2012, considered by some ill-suited to the Royal Opera House and lacking the musical engagement of her previously melodically rich operas and a decent libretto. 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. 024 IN 2. World premiere at the Bregenz Festival on 21st July 2011 at the Festspielhaus, Bregenz, directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, with the Prague Philharmonic Chorus (director Lukas Vasilek) and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paul Daniel. 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? 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. 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. Judith Weir's music is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. 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. . Had Kieron-Connor Valentines Fate been more malevolent his encounters with Erin Gwyn Rossingtons Tina would have had more emotional impact. Judith Weir's music is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. 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. 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). She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. The Silk Street Theatre, Music Hall and Lecture Recital Room arelocated in the main Guildhall School building on Silk Streetand for Barbican produced events the venuecan also be accessed from the Barbican if you exit via the doors next to Barbican Kitchen on Level G. Address Vanishing . Both the score and the individual performances The work was made in co-operation with Margaret Williams. Sad to say but Judith Weir's sixth opera is an embarrassment. Eva Gaidoni What a waste of talent and resources. Above all, I felt justified in having written the opera in the first place. Strahinja Mitrovic, Clarinet Alan Ewing as Lord Fortune, Emma Bell as Tina and Kathryn Harries as Lady Fortune in the Royal Opera's production of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune. 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. And the greatest irony of all Miss Fortune wins the lottery. In January 2008, over fifty of her works were performed during 'Telling The Tale', a three-day retrospective of her music, hosted by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, London. 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. Lady Fortune - Kathryn Harries. Judith Weir. Aina Miyagi Magnell 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. In fact, I think you should go. The opera reworks a Sicilian folktale as a contemporary parable. Next year, George Benjamin's commission Written on Skin will enter the fray and Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur a tale of loneliness with a furious but poetic score which was unquestionably a success is revived. Judith Weirs orchestral music is drawn from a similarly vivid palette. 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. 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). Its story talks about the difference betweeen being rich and poor, and I was criticised at the time for imagining that this would be a permissable subject for an opera. What drew you to composition? She studied with . Sad because Weirs 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. 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. Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents a performance of Judith Weir's opera Miss Fortune. What you think of Miss Fortunes music will depend very much on personal tastes: I found it music to admire rather than to love. 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. 559. Malena Benavent 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. In collaboration with director . Last year's Bregenz staging, the work's world premiere, was an opportunity to take strong action. Members do not pay booking fees. 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. Where Weirs orchestral writing is full and rich, the vocal parts are for the most part agile and harsh. Asked to fall to the ground in terror at news of an approaching financial disaster, they ask, "Like in Idomeneo?" Popularly known as the Musician of United Kingdom. It was a concept that worked well on paper, but the contrasting styles and libretti of Gian Carlo Menotti and Judith Weir one charming and unpretentious, the other angular and banal felt mismatched musically and made for an uneven night. Julian Hepple. Her most recent opera, Miss Fortune, which opened in 2012, was . 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. Miss Fortune in name and deed. If nothing has changed musically, this small staging worked well, at least in dramatic terms with terrific visuals and spot on acting. It didnt help that the singing from Rossington and Valentine lacked clarity and I had to second guess some of their dialogue. Bass clarinet Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. Ensemble. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Age 14-25? If any does survive, before its next airing it is certain to have been cut, tweaked, titivated or subjected to bold surgery preferably by the composer, for whom performance is the only great lesson in revealing a work's weaknesses. 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. She teaches at Cardiff University. Leif Tse, Repetiteurs 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. The once-rich little heroine, dogged by cruel Fate,. I cannot find much to redeem Miss Fortune in its current form. Judith Weirsoperais a story aboutTinaand how her life dramaticallychanges course overnight; it is a story aboutfateand fortune. Silk Street Theatre, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London; Monday 28th February 2022. What a waste of talent and resources. Kyra Coppini, Production Sound Engineers Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. My first pieces were at secondary school. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. A first performance of a new opera is the start of a precipitous journey. She has written orchestral music for the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras. Is there another way?" Christian Morris talks to Judith Weir, whose new opera Miss Fortune will receive its UK premire on 12th March at the Royal Opera House. At least that was Weirs intention to be relevant and in touch. Charlie Broad Given the intimacy and physical support of the Linbury Studio (instead of the open wastes of the main auditorium) the work would at least have had a fair hearing, instead of becoming an object of near ridicule. Natalie Alfille-Cook woman.life.song. The Royal Opera promise a feast for the eyes and dont disappoint. She has a large catalogue of performed works to her name, which will silence any who doubt her considerable gifts, especially vocal. And did the previous orchestra really play that F-natural all last summer and we never noticed? She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. If you dont harbour too many expectations of a thought-provoking story, its worth going to see for the staging alone. The best in live events, streams, reviews and articles recommended by our editors, delivered to your inbox weekly. Alaric Green The score was published by Novello in 1982, and lasts under ten minutes, making it one of the shortest operas, and is possibly unique in having . Alice Warburton 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. Meanwhile, the cast plunged into the nitty-gritty ("Four steps to the left, take the glass from Kathryn, turn "). 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. A short 90 minutes of music later, Im still not entirely sure what it is Ive just seen. Simon, a wealthy young man Jack Holton (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Jonathan Eyers (2 & 7 Mar), Chorus of sweatshop workers and party guests: [7] She was appointed for a decade. Above all, I felt justified in having written the opera in the first place. Composer Judith Weir tells the story to her latest opera Miss Fortune at a recent Insights event at the Royal Opera House. 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. The work should not have been put on the Royal Opera House stage without rigorous overhaul, especially in a staging so crassly bare and wide open that the voices were left stranded, good singers reduced to reedy insubstantiality, the slim drama robbed of focus. Edit Now. 28 pages. Miss Fortune in name and deed. A full list of Production Arts teaching staff and technicians can be found on our website. Reonel Rafols In food terms this was a programme comprising starter and main course, a well-designed menu beginning with a romantic comedy and followed by a picaresque meditation on fate with much to nourish the ears, eyes and mind. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Donna, proprietor of a laundry Laura Fleur (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Amy Holyland (2 & 7 Mar) Pedro Marques 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. [2] See something missing? MISS FORTUNE is a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. 4 booking fee per online/phone transaction. Watch online from 25 March. Emma Bell, singing the title role perched five metres up on a rocky plinth, only now revealed that she was scared of heights. Emily Nellis, Stage Crew Subscribe to our newsletters to hear about upcoming events. But when the once wealthy Tina (a self-consciously red-headed but vocally resolute Emma Bell) turns on Fate (a wasted Andrew Watts) and halfway through this short and pointless evening enquires: Was it you who turned my life upside down? we know weve come precisely nowhere very fast. 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. Christos Maltezos* I was aiming to write an urban folk tale that reminded me of everyday life, colliding with the grandeur of opera. Judith Weir's Miss Fortune did not have a favourable reception when it premiered at Covent Garden in 2012, considered by some ill-suited to the Royal Opera House and lacking the musical engagement of her previously melodically rich operas and a decent libretto. 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. Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email. Not something you often come across in opera. Lydia Haynes Still, Glowing. Tiago Costa Our website uses cookies to give you the best possible experience. Everyone is meaner, more downcast, more jubilant. or you can purchase and download online, The music of Judith Weir is published by Chester Music Ltd and Novello & Co Ltd, part of Wise Music Group. Despite the layoff since summer, the staging soon exuded a dance-like motion we hadn't seen before. Stanley Olden, Scenic Art Co-ordinator Not entirely, and not so extravagantly and hopelessly. Our heroine is clad in a bright red dress - the Chinese colour for luck - which makes her a constant point of focus through the action. Bogdan Skrypka 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. 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". Start your Independent Premium subscription today. 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. Look out for the paean to the perfectly laundered shirt sung by Simon (the excellent Jacques Imbrailo), which is a moment of pure comic genius. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Violetta Suvini* Violin I The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal . Photograph: Tristram Kenton, as it a plane, a boat or a train? Music Sales America. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . YouTube Encyclopedic. Luna De Mol, Violin II Was it a plane, a boat or a train? [11] In 2023, Weir was announced as one of the composers who would each create a brand new piece for the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Weve plenty of places for you to relax and replenish, from coffee and cake to wood-fired pizzas and full pre-theatre menus. Commissioned byBregenzFestival and the RoyalOperaHouse and premiered in 2011,Miss Fortuneis a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. Applying that usage, it has had many "adventures" over the years and the discard pile is high. 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. Her struggles are closely shadowed by Fate sung by counter-tenor Kieron-Connor Valentine. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. 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. . Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Queasy chromatic scales rising and falling in the trombones is as close as we get to the dark happenings on the street. Either way, it makes a good spectacle. Weir, who succeeds Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, will be appointed for a. Yn ogystal, mae'n gyfansoddwr o ddarnau cerddorfaol a lleisiol, gan gynnwys Concerto i'r Piano (1997), The Welcome Arrival of Rain (2001), ac In the Land of Uz (2017). Continue using the site as normal or read our Opera; Full score; Chester Music; musicsalesclassical.com; 43308 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). Galleries. In 2005 her opera Armida, an opera for television, was premiered on Channel Four in the United Kingdom). Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. 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. 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. From 1995 to 2000, she was Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival in London. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Sad because Weir's folk inspired fables have won many friends, sad because she is a composerly. . What drew me was finding something that would bring my performing friends together. 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. 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. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. The darker side of the "alienating effects of modern urban life" (as designer Anna Reid's programme note summarises both operas) are explored in Judith Weir's Miss Fortune (2011) based on a Sicilian folk story and dramatising a serious reversal of fortune and circumstances as its punning title implies, through the personified figure of fate. 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. Joshua Saunders Judith Weir explains why her latest work a parable about the financial crisis had to have them, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Straitened times Emma Bell and Anne-Marie Owens in Miss Fortune. Judith Weir is brilliant at writing atmospheric, descriptive music, but such music needs something to hang on to, like flesh needs a skeleton (another image of Fate).This libretto is so weak, it's embarrassing. She was a visiting distinguished research professor in composition at Cardiff University from 2006 to 2009. Only Anne-Marie Owens's Donna, who runs a launderette, and Hassan the kebab-van owner, beautifully sung by Noah Stewart (the closest we get to beefcake), show signs of humanity. I registered a faint sense that my opera plot was already out on the street, but I didn't think all the detail it contained the violent destruction of property, the collapse of the middle class would soon become true as well. For more information visit their website, Hear music by Judith Weir online at Spotify. The helicopter view: Opera Europa's Nicholas Payne, At the helm of the aircraft carrier: The Royal Opera's Oliver Mears, Raising the curtain: Jacquelyn Stucker on building momentum and opera's digital challenge, Meeting the Maestro: in conversation with Fabio Luisi, Spring and summer in Prague: your musical guide, Koen entrances the Rudolfinum with Martin miniatures, Lucid in music and narrative: ENO and Richard Jones, David is a co-founder of Bachtrack. Richard Jones' production is visually all over the place, but in a good way. Opera: Voices & Orchestra. 3 - Larsson, Dsseldorfer Symphoniker/Fischer, GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. Iben Bering Srensen 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. Classical. Public transport Presented byGuildhall School of Music & Drama. 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. Judith Weir, Miss Fortune, Royal Opera, 12 March 2012 (British premiere) A member of Soul Mavericks Images: Royal Opera/Bill Cooper: Royal Opera House. Mario Gutirrez Gorria, Viola The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Lady Fortune Amy Holyland (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Laura Fleur (2 & 7 Mar) 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) Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian. . [10] In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 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. At the time, I was writing a chorus number called We Didn't See It Coming. And yet the characters are archetypes who grovel in the dirt of clich. To book tickets visit:. Albery's production allows the opera to speak for itself, although sluggish pacing in the pit detract from the musical merits of this revival. Beri Valentine, Stage Management Props Supervisor Weir, Judith. Commissioned by Bregenz Festival and the Royal Opera House and premiered in 2011, Miss Fortune is a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story.