Today : world première of 'Anthropocene' by Stuart MacRae in Glasgow

Today, the Scottish Opera presents the world première of Anthropocene, an opera composed by Stuart MacRae, with a libretto by Louise Welsh.

It is the composer's fifth opera after The Assasin Tree (Edinburgh, 2006), Remembrance Day (Glasgow, 2009), Ghost Patrol (Edinburgh, 2012) and The Devil Inside (Glasgow, 2016).

In the frozen Arctic wastelands, an expeditionary team of scientists becomes trapped. Tensions rise and relationships crumble; and then something appears, out of the ice… (reproduced from the Scottish Opera website)

The cast includes soprano Jennifer France (Ice), soprano Jeni Bern (Professor Prentice), baritone Stephen Gadd (Charles), baritone Benedict Nelson (Miles), tenor Mark Le Brocq (Harry King) and bass baritone Paul Whelan (Captain Ross). Stuart Stratford conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Scottish Opera. Matthew Richardson directs.

The performance should last 2 hours and 20 minutes, including a 20 minutes interval.

The venue for the first performance is the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. Further performances in Edinburgh (King's Theatre) and London (Hackney Empire) until February 9.

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.