Breaking boundaries, blending voices, and reimagining opera today.
By Bettina Gracias
Opera is not the most accessible of art forms on many levels, be it the cost, the perceived ‘elitism’, or the form itself. James Joyce, a great lover of classical music, found the plots ridiculous.
Beverly Andrews is making a brave and ambitious attempt to address these barriers with her new opera Water. It encompasses an epic journey through time and space, starting with a slave ship that discards its rowers into the sea, ending with a future Mathematician calculating whether or not we can find water on another planet for those on earth to survive.
The theme is highly topical and crucial to our times. An opera on this subject can not be considered irrelevant, and the story seems eerily predictive.
We were treated to a taste of how the opera would sound at The Arcola Theatre on Friday the 22nd of August. The cast was made up of an unusually international range of wonderful singers, including a very touching performance from a young singer, Shivani Sen, from India. Working with three composers created a variety of style which fitted with the various eras the opera encompasses.
It is a mammoth story which will positively challenge any set-designer’s creativity. I look forward to seeing a full production that gives form to Beverly’s wonderful imagination.
To be honest I often find Opera hard to digest as it was alien to me as a child. Modern opera, therefor comes with additional challenges for me as I look to feel something towards the piece, not simply digest as if it were artistic gristle. Here the challenge is amply met, this work at turns fascinates, educates and ultimately rewards through the soaring voices of a remarkable set of talents. Not only was the singing remarkable, the story, which spans centuries forward and back is interesting and its interpretation operatically actually ‘fits’. I don’t have the talent to say why, but for some reason the boldness of the vision needs ‘big’ voices, and oh, were they big and beautiful here. I hope this gets the wider audience it deserves.’
By Rob Atchinson (Writer)
There were wonderful combinations of voices – promising that a fully staged version would be truly magical.
By Bob Bentley (Film director)
