Three new programme books in my collection

I have recently received the programme books for the three following contemporary operas :

- Chaya Czernowin : Infinite Now, Gent (Opera Vlaanderen), April 18, 2017 ;
- Moritz Eggert : Caliban, Amsterdam (De Nationale Opera), March 25, 2017 ;
- Lliam Paterson : The 8th Door, Glasgow (Scottish Opera), March 28, 2017.

The first one is a 72 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast ;
- Instap. Vreemdgaan en thuiskomen in 'Infinite Now', by Luc Joosten ;
- synopsis ;
- Structuur van het werk ;
- Homecoming, Can Xue - een schrijfster van de ziel ;
- Chaya Czernowin, een portret ;
- Kunst kan een soort laboratorium zijn voor het leven, an interview with the composer ;
- Vergeten waar niet te vergeten valt, an interview with director Luk Perceval ;
- De biografie van een werk - Luk Perceval bij het begin van de repetitie ;
- Het besef van iets wat ons in stand houdt - Chaya Czernowin bij het begin van de repetitie ;
- Over de muziek in 'Infinite Now' ;
- the complete libretto in Dutch ;
- biographies of all the artists with black and white headshots.

The complete book is entirely in Dutch.

The second one is a 16 pages brochure. It contains :

- complete cast ;
- Over het stuk - About the piece, bilingual synopsis in Dutch and English ;
- Artistiek team en cast (biographies).

The third one is a 56 page book. It contains :

- Cast & Creative team ;
- Synopsis and Director's note (by Matthew Lenton) ;
- biographies of director and composer, with colour headshots ;
- The 8th Door, by David Kettle (music critic) ;
- biographies of artists with black and white headshots.

The book is entirely in English. About a fourth of it is dedicated to Paterson's work. The other part is about Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle.

I now have 475 programmes for contemporary operas in my collection. I have uploaded the scanned covers in this flickr folder.

Today : world premiere of Lliam Paterson's 'The 8th Door' in Glasgow

Today, the Scottish Opera presents the world premiere of Lliam Paterson's The 8th Door, conceived as a prequel to Bela Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle.

(c)Mihaela Bodlovic

It is the composer's first opera.

Inspired by Bartók’s great masterpiece, The 8th Door probes those things left unsaid – the spaces and silences in Bluebeard’s Castle. Performed by a cast of actors from around the globe, it holds up a mirror to the world of Bluebeard, weaving together the poetry of his Hungarian contemporaries and Paterson’s clear and vibrant music. Six singers join the orchestra in the pit, delivering a wealth of textures and sounds to a strikingly beautiful visual story of love and confusion. (reproduced from the Scottish Opera website)

The cast includes mezzo Katie Grosset, baritone Martin Häßler, counter-tenor Daniel Keating-Roberts, soprano Hazel McBain, tenor William Morgan and soprano Emily Vine. Sian Edwards conducts the Scottish Opera Chorus and Orchestra. Matthew Lenton directs.

Both works are sung in Hungarian. The complete performance should last about 2 hours.

New in my collection : program books from Glasgow and Hamburg

I have recently two program books for contemporary operas :

- Toshio Hosokawa : Stilles Meer, Hamburg, January 24, 2016 ;
- Stuart MacRae : The Devil Inside, Glasgow, January 23, 2016.

Both are 56 pages books. The first is entirely in German. It contains :

- synopsis of the opera ;
- an introduction to the opera, by the composer Toshio Hosokawa ;
- an article on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, by stage director Oriza Hirata ;
- Nirgendwo ein Feind in Sicht (Nowhere an enemy in sight) by Janina Zell ;
- an interview with Oriza Hirata ;
- an interview with composer Toshio Hosokawa ;
- an article on the original Noh play, Sumidagawa, by Heinz-Dieter Reese ;
- an excerpt  of a novel by Ogai Mori ;
- Schönheit der Vergänglichkeit (Beauty of Impermanence) by the Dalai Lama ;
- several black & white headshots of victims of the 2011 tsunami by Denis Rouvre (taken from the Low Tide exhibition at the State Opera) ;
- complete libretto in German ;
- several colour pictures of the piano dress rehearsal on January 13.

A separate 4 pages booklet contains the complete cast and crew for the first performace. There is no biography of any kind.

The second is entirely in English. It contains :

- the complete cast ;
- the synopsis of the opera ;
- biographies of composer Stuart MacRae and librettist Louise Welsh ;
- an article on the opera by music critic David Kettle ;
- Stevenson in the South Seas, by Edwin Moore ;
- the complete libretto in English ;
- biographies of the artists, with black and white headshots.

By following this link to flickr, you have access to the covers of all 393 program books for contemporary opera I have in my collection.

Today : world première of 'The Devil Inside' by Stuart MacRae in Glasgow

Today, the Scottish Opera presents the world première performance of Stuart MacRae's new opera, The Devil Inside, with a libretto by Louise Welsh, inspired by Roberts Louis Stevenson's short story The Bottle Imp. The performance will take place at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow.

It is the composer's fourth opera, after The Assassin Tree (2006), Remembrance Day (2008) and Ghost Patrol (2012).

James uses the bottle to get all he's ever dreamed of. Happily married to Catherine, he feels his life is complete ... but what has seemed so perfect soon begins to spiral out of control. (reproduced from the Scottish Opera website).

The cast includes mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly (Catherine), tenor Nicholas Sharratt (Richard), baritone Ben McAteer (James) and baritone Steven Page (Old Man / Vagrant). Michael Rafferty conducts members of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Matthew Richardson directs.

The performance should last about 1 hours 45 minutes. The opera is a co-production with Music Theatre Wales. In the next three months, this new opera will be touring to London, Cardiff, Basingstoke, Manchester, Aberystwyth, Huddersfield, Mold, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Toronto.

Brochures recently received in the mail

I was away for a couple of days, and during that time, I received the following brochures in the mail :

- Barcelona, Gran Teatre del Liceu : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Braunschweig, Staatstheater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Bregenz, Bregenzer Festspiele 2014 : Festival program book ;
- Darmstadt, Staatstheater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Detmold, Landestheater : 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Freiburg, Theater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Glasgow, Scottish Opera : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Heidelberg, Theater und Orchester : July-August 2014 leaflet ;
- Liège, Opéra Royal de Wallonie : 2014-2015 season book ;
- Linz, Landestheater : July-August 2014 leaflet ;
- Lübeck, Theater : June-July leaflet and 2014-2015 season program book ;
- Stuttgart, Staatstheater : June-July 2014 journal and July 2014 brochure ;
- Trier, Theater : July 2014 leaflet ;
- Vienna, Volksoper : Zeitung No. 32 (June to September 2014) and September 2014 calendar.