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Joana Praa* One of these days someone might actually commission one of the many young composers at the sharp end of musical theatre creative song writers with their finger on the pulse of contemporary living. Oliver Mears' new production of Britten's chamber opera is a visceral reflection on tyranny and sexual violence. . She is seen as one of the most successful Musician of all times. 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. I decided to use the tale as a basis for a new opera. Intimate reinvention: Guildhall School of Music & Drama reassesses Judith Weir's Miss Fortune in a double bill with Giancarlo Menotti's The Telephone, directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans, conducted by. 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. Caroline Moores, Head of Recording & Audio Visual 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. It didnt help that the singing from Rossington and Valentine lacked clarity and I had to second guess some of their dialogue. A chance lottery win enables her escape from poverty, and like all good fairy tales, she goes off into the sunset with the handsome prince, Jack Holton whose paean to a freshly laundered shirt made one of the few amusing moments. 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. 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. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . On 21 July 2011, her first opera for 17 years, Miss Fortune (Achterbahn), premiered at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. 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. Music Sales America. 28 pages. Everyone is meaner, more downcast, more jubilant. Giulia Lussoso 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. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office.[2]. Sad to say but Judith Weirs sixth opera is an embarrassment. 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. Weir was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1995 Birthday Honours for services to music. Andr Soares Not entirely, and not so extravagantly and hopelessly. Opera: Voices & Orchestra. Composed 2000. A recording of this production will be available to watch online for free after the performances. 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. 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. We must question the ROH artistic management, perhaps caught in a transitional zone between the departure of Elaine Padmore and the arrival of Kasper Holten as director of opera. Miss Fortune in name and deed. During this time she began to write a series of operas (including King Haralds Saga, The Black Spider, A Night at the Chinese Opera, The Vanishing Bridegroom and Blond Eckbert) which have subsequently received many performances in the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Steven van der Linden The UK premire of Miss Fortune is on March 12th at the Royal Opera House. What you think of Miss Fortunes music will depend very much on personal tastes: I found it music to admire rather than to love. [9], Weir is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Most hurtle down the chute at once, all limbs flailing, and plunge straight into the wheelie bin of oblivion. The four days of programmes ended with a first performance of her new commission, CONCRETE, a choral motet. For more information visit their website, Hear music by Judith Weir online at Spotify. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. For Rap read rhyming couplets. 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. Tobias Campos Santinaque The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Find the perfect Judith Weir stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. Register now, On sale to Guildhall Circle members Mon 29 Nov 10am. 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. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal . Miss Fortune in name and deed. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. 024 IN 2. 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. Benedict Swindells* Judith Weir CBE (born 1954) is a British composer and the first female Master of the Queen's Music. Whilst there is nothing especially laudable . As resident composer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, she wrote several works for orchestra and chorus (including Forest, Storm and We are Shadows) which were premiered by the orchestras then Music Director, Simon Rattle. [12], Weir's musical language is fairly conservative, with a "knack of making simple musical ideas appear freshly mysterious". 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. 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". Issy Jordan 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. Stanley Olden, Scenic Art Co-ordinator Beat Erro Dez, Horn First things first: Chen Shi-Zhengs production, created for the works premire at Bregenz Festival last year, is one of the most visually stunning opera productions I have ever seen. 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 Weir's Miss Fortune is an entertaining night out. Ami-Louise Johnsson 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. Despite the layoff since summer, the staging soon exuded a dance-like motion we hadn't seen before. [13] Her first stage work, The Black Spider, was a one-act opera which was premiered in Canterbury in 1985 loosely based on the short novel of the same name by Jeremias Gotthelf. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Bogdan Skrypka Full marks on all fronts. Never louder than lovely would have been welcome for Weirs contorted vocals lines. Silk Street Popularly known as the Musician of United Kingdom. . 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. By contrast, the premiere production (as often happens) seemed to be aiming at a left-field reimagining of a piece which no-one had yet seen. 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'. MISS FORTUNE is a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. The once-rich little heroine, dogged by cruel Fate, becomes a low-wage earner cue sweatshops, ironing boards, an imploding fast-food van. CONTENTS OPERA Blond Eckbert. Guildhall School of Music & Drama Phil Sizer, Staff Production Manager EC2Y 8DT. Classical. And the greatest irony of all - Miss Fortune wins the lottery. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. How come that trumpet B-flat sounded so great in the Austrian Alps, but in London was clearly a wrong note? In 1987, her first half-length opera, A Night at the Chinese Opera, was premiered at Kent Opera. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. 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. Manon Ogwen Parry She has subsequently written one more "micro-opera", three full-length operas, and an opera for television. Ben Mills, Deputy Stage ManagerAndrea Stier Andersen, Assistant Stage Managers One of these days someone might actually commission one of the many young composers at the sharp end of musical theatre - creative song writers with their finger on the pulse of contemporary living. . Archie Buchanan Eva Gaidoni 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. 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. Biography. For Guildhall School performances please use the Guildhall School entrance on Silk Street. 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. 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. 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. [16], The first public performance of Weir's arrangement of "God Save the Queen" was performed at the reburial of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015. 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. 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. Allegra Totaro-Wainwright, Assistant Scenic Artists A first performance of a new opera is the start of a precipitous journey. 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? 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 contemporary events. Judith Weir's music is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. For Barbican performances, enter through the mainBarbican Centre entrance in Silk Street. Cludia Costa Gonalves, Ensembles, Programming & Instrument Manager Lisette Oropesa leads strong vocal performances in Handel's madcap tale of love and sorcery. [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. 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. Judith Weir's most recent major work is her opera Miss Fortune, which received its first performances on July 21, 2011 at the Bregenz Festival, directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and designed by Tom Pye. 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 . Our privacy policy was last updated on Friday 31 January 2020, Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 12 March 2012. And the greatest irony of all Miss Fortune wins the lottery. 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. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. In January 2008, Weir was the focus of the BBC's annual composer weekend at the Barbican Centre in London. . 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. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. Nonetheless, having written her own libretto as well as the music, she was easy prey. Miss Fortune moved to London in March 2012, garnering at least two negative reviews. . Kosuke Shirai Katie Wong, Production Assistants Everything about Miss Fortune is benign and comfortable - even Tom Pyes eye-catching geometric designs are thoroughly alienating, a garment sweatshop spotless and sanitised like the Royal Opera have re-deployed the spinning chorus from their last production of The Flying Dutchman. The absence of an intermediary sparring partner in the shape of a librettist may have made it difficult for the right person to say to Weir "more here, less there". 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. Alaric Green 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. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Unsolved problems: (l-r) Kathryn Harries, Alan Ewing and Emma Bell struggle to make an impression at Covent Garden. [2] See something missing? Did it have to be this way? Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. To book tickets visit:. I loved the witty set (designer. 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. A strong ROH2 schedule includes premieres by Scott Walker, Huw Watkins and Stuart MacRae in a season that will offer "fresh and interesting angles on the art form". But this time round, it seemed even more relevant than to pay onstage attention to this subject. Do you remember your first pieces? The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal . 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) 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). Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? But this time round, it seemed even more relevant than to pay onstage attention to this subject. Her music often draws on sources from medieval history, as well as the traditional stories and music of her parents' homeland, Scotland. Both the score and the individual performances Aina Miyagi Magnell Judith Weir Net Worth & Basic source of earning is being a successful British Musician. 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. 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. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. In 2014-15 there were releases of The Vanishing Bridegroom (NMC) and Storm (BBC Singers/Signum). Vanishing . [10] In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 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. Expressive of face and voice this champagne-quaffing pair fulfilled their roles with suitable vulgarity. SATB Choir and Organ Book Only Classical Composed by Judith Weir (1954-). What a waste of talent and resources. And did the previous orchestra really play that F-natural all last summer and we never noticed? Iza Fordham Judith Weir has a net worth of $5.00 million (Estimated) which she earned from her occupation as Musician. 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.