Stamatia Tsaroucha [9], Weir is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. EC2Y 8DT. Full marks on all fronts. Allegra Totaro-Wainwright, Assistant Scenic Artists Silk Street Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. 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". 28 pages. What drew you to composition? In 1987, her first half-length opera, A Night at the Chinese Opera, was premiered at Kent Opera. Did it have to be this way? In fact, I think you should go. 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. In collaboration with director . Miss Fortune is based on a Sicilian folk tale, and Weir's own libretto abstracts the story and creates a sort of moral fable that rather reminded me of Georg Kaiser's From Morning to Midnight and David Sawer's brave attempt to turn it into an opera in 2001 at English National Opera. She struggles, wins the lottery, casts aside money and goes off with the handsome prince, in his mercifully clean shirt. Julia Sanchez Merino Popularly known as the Musician of United Kingdom. Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Judith Weir was appointed Master of The Queen's Music, in succession to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, in July 2014; and in January 2015 became Associate Composer . Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. The work was made in co-operation with Margaret Williams. 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. A first performance of a new opera is the start of a precipitous journey. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. Ben Upthegrove Jonathan Eyers (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Jack Holton (2 & 7 Mar), Lord Fortune Jacob Harrison Judith Weir. By combining The Telephone and Miss Fortune, director Martin Lloyd-Evans and designer Anna Reid wished to explore aspects of the isolating effects of modern urban life. 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. The Vanishing Bridegroom and Miss Fortune. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. . 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) So, turning convention on its head, weve a fatalistic riches-to-rags tale transposed from a Sicilian original and relocated in time and place to take account of the financial ills and social unrest of the here and now. Both the score and the individual performances Weir is a warmly admired composer, modest in manner but gritty in ambition, as anyone in her field has to be first to achieve, second to survive. Our website uses cookies to give you the best possible experience. 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. 2.1.1 Miss Fortune (Achterbahn) 2.2 Other key works; 3 Selected recordings; 4 External links; 5 References Biography. 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. The booking fee may be reduced on certain events. Despite the lively productions and well-defined characterisations, I was disappointed by the poor diction and overbearing orchestral support in Miss Fortune. She was commissioned to compose an a cappella work for the state funeral of Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022, and wrote a setting of Psalm 42, "Like as the hart".[17]. Manon Ogwen Parry Lydia Haynes Julian Hepple. What a waste of talent and resources. 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). Opera; Full score; Chester Music; musicsalesclassical.com; 43308 It will help us make your newsletter content more useful. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Miss Fortune in name and deed. 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. Still, Glowing. Gounod's Faust from the Opra Bastille, Paris. 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? 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. As far as one could tell, Paul Daniel conducted a good performance. She is seen as one of the most successful Musician of all times. Last year's Bregenz staging, the work's world premiere, was an opportunity to take strong action. Music Sales America. [21] Andrew Clements wrote in The Guardian of "a long two hours in the opera house" with scenes that "follow like cartoonish tableaux, without real characterisation, or confrontation, and without suggesting a dramatic shape", and also criticised the "twee rhyming couplets and inert blank verse" of Weir's libretto. Caroline Moores, Head of Recording & Audio Visual In places, where the orchestral score was particularly busy, some of the singing felt forced, with students pushing their voices beyond reasonable limits. But now that the Royal Opera House's chorus has taken over, the opera seems to have moved into 3D. 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. Biography Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. 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. Miss Fortune in name and deed. Guildhall Schools Opera department presents a double bill of operatic works exploring romantic love, fate and fortune. 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. Charlotte Antingham DAME PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE: Facing The Music - A Life in Musical Theatre, Meyerbeer "Robert Le Diable", Royal Opera House (Review), GRAMOPHONE Review: Bartk Duke Bluebeard's Castle - Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/Mlkki, GRAMOPHONE Review: Prokofiev Symphonies 1 & 7/Lieutenant Kij Suite - Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Sokhiev, GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. 4 booking fee per online/phone transaction. Georgia Lloyd* Violin I Her most recent opera, Miss Fortune, which opened in 2012, was . Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. R. 70. I loved the witty set (designer, Anna Reid) a luxury housing development, with a big sign outside promising "No social housing", something I'm all too familiar with as a local resident to the Vauxhall-Nine Elms "transformation". Giulia Lussoso 145 Miss Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE Collections Project #ShowUs Creative Insights EDITORIAL VIDEO BBC Motion Gallery NBC News Archives MUSIC BLOG BROWSE PRICING ENTERPRISE VisualGPS INSIGHTS BOARDS BASKET SIGN IN Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO The composer Judith Weir wrote the opening work for last year's Proms. Although she has achieved international recognition for her orchestral and chamber works, Weir is best known for her operas and theatrical works. 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. Where Weirs orchestral writing is full and rich, the vocal parts are for the most part agile and harsh. Now in her 50s, she is too experienced, too knowledgable about the bloodied history of most operatic endeavour to have expected to get off lightly. 7. In some ways I feel I've seen the piece for the first time, in a staging (by Martin Lloyd-Evans) which very closely expressed my intentions when I first imagined it. . And the greatest irony of all Miss Fortune wins the lottery. 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. Where these singers find the energy isn't clear: this week, they are also being wood nymphs, Spanish aristocrats and Italian peasants, in several other operas. Tell us a little about the opera. I decided to use the tale as a basis for a new opera. Expressive of face and voice this champagne-quaffing pair fulfilled their roles with suitable vulgarity. 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. 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. . Born: 11 May 1954, United Kingdom Died: NA Country most active: United Kingdom Also known as: NA Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. 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 a face-off between Gabriele Viviani's Scarpia and Malin Bystrms Tosca in this solid revival of Jonathan Kent's 2006 production, there could only be one winner. 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 has subsequently written one more "micro-opera", three full-length operas, and an opera for television. Much of her music has been recorded, and is available on the NMC, Delphian and Signum labels. Edit Now. Cludia Costa Gonalves, Ensembles, Programming & Instrument Manager Antonio Daz Fernndez Steven van der Linden She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. BBC Radio 3. Vanishing . Judith Weir CBE HonFRSE (born 11 May 1954)[1] is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. [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. At the time, I was writing a chorus number called We Didn't See It Coming. Tina (Miss Fortune) - Emma Bell. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office.[2]. 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. 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. Discover Judith Weir sheet music on nkoda.Find 133 Judith Weir pieces from leading publishers on the greatest digital sheet music library. 5, Rimsky-Korsakov Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh LSO/Noseda. 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. BBC Philharmonic/David, GRAMOPHONE Review: Shostakovich Symphony No 10, Mahler Symphony No 10 Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra/van Zweden, GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. Written specifically for performance on American television in 1947, Gian Carlo MenottisoperaThe Telephoneis a romantic comedy in one act, written for just two singers and a hand-picked chamber ensemble of instrumentalists. The once-rich little heroine, dogged by cruel Fate, becomes a low-wage earner cue sweatshops, ironing boards, an imploding fast-food van. After this she spent several years working in schools and adult education in rural southern England; followed by a period based in Scotland, teaching at Glasgow University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. 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. RGT Birthdays today To book tickets visit:. In 2008, as I began writing, I walked past a sandwich board bearing the headline: "Blind panic as shares crash." 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. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. We remain indifferent to Miss Fortune (however persuasively sung by a red-wigged Emma Bell), her vulgar nouveau parents who lose their riches, the sharp-suited romantic interest, Simon (the lovely Jacques Imbrailo). A full list of Production Arts teaching staff and technicians can be found on our website. 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 gap between failure and success in the theatre can be as narrow as a hair's breadth. Queasy chromatic scales rising and falling in the trombones is as close as we get to the dark happenings on the street. Bass clarinet 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. Simon, a wealthy young man Jack Holton (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Jonathan Eyers (2 & 7 Mar), Chorus of sweatshop workers and party guests: The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2012. Judith Weir's music has been widely recorded, particularly on the NMC and Delphian labels; and is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. I hope that does not mean more trapeziums, please. The banality of the text follows the banality of the narrative, and the music doesn't rise above it. Night AT the Chinese Opera (A) (1987) Operas. Meanwhile, the Chorus are a vital presence, losing all their money in the opening scene, only to reappear in increasingly direr straits. Miss Fortune in name and deed. MISS FORTUNE is a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. 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. 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. If your booking contains several events the highest booking fee will apply. Judith Weirsoperais a story aboutTinaand how her life dramaticallychanges course overnight; it is a story aboutfateand fortune. Weve plenty of places for you to relax and replenish, from coffee and cake to wood-fired pizzas and full pre-theatre menus. In 2014-15 there were releases of The Vanishing Bridegroom (NMC) and Storm (BBC Singers/Signum). This was followed by a further three full-length operas The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990), Blond Eckbert (1994), the latter commissioned by the English National Opera[14] and Miss Fortune (Achterbahn) (2011). The opera reworks a Sicilian folktale as a contemporary parable. Called Miss Fortune, the story is about money, fate and fortune. Judith Weir. Tina, their daughter Erin Gwyn Rossington (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Cleo Lee McGowan (2 & 7 Mar) 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 . 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. Do you remember your first pieces? Kyra Coppini, Production Sound Engineers In 2014 she was appointed . [2] See something missing? [10] In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Jos Hita Garca* The four days of programmes ended with a first performance of her new commission, CONCRETE, a choral motet. S,Mz,Ct,T,Bar,bbar + 2(II:pic).1.3(III:bcl).1+cbn/, A series of performances taking place in London over the coming weeks shines a spotlight on the rich and varied output of composer Judith Weir, Spotlight on Judith Weir including orchestral works, opera and a world premiere. For Rap read rhyming couplets. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at . She has written orchestral music for the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras. Kosuke Shirai 024 IN 2. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Ami-Louise Johnsson Judith Weir CBE HonFRSE (born 11 May 1954) is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. Albery's production allows the opera to speak for itself, although sluggish pacing in the pit detract from the musical merits of this revival. The second act has greater pace and vitality: the wise, witty Weir of old is back on form, but too briefly. Interview by Silly and naive. 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. But Weir creates much variety of timbre and a fair degree of potency throughout. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. Gabriel Francis-Dehqani, Double Bass When her life's course turns from bad to worse, she makes a date with Fate. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. This new co-production receives its UK premiere in March 2012. Tobias Campos Santinaque 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.