mezzo-soprano

2+.1.ca.2+.2/2.2.0.0/timp/harp/strings

versions for mezzo soprano, or coloratura soprano

2+.1.ca.2+.2/2.2.0.0/3 perc (inc. celesta, xylophone, glockenspiel), strings

for solo flute and chamber orchestra

(2 ob, Eb clar, Bb clar, 2 bsn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, 4 perc – (inc marimba, vibraphone, t-bells), harp, celesta, strings)

a string quartet version of the  eponymous piano piece [13']

commissioned by Clare Whistler for the 2012 City of London Festival’s event ‘Where the Wild Flowers Are’

fp 30th June 2012 – Tristan Cox, at City of London churches: St Mary at Hill, Eastcheap – St Olave, Hart St – St Stephen Walbrook

A Royal Opera House commission for the Cultural Olympiad [50']
for singers, dancers, children’s chorus and full orchestra
fp. 22 July 2012. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London WC2

Madame Catalani/ La Zaffetta –  (soprano)

Mr Kemble/ Alfredo –  (tenor)

Henry Clifford/ Emilia –  (mezzo-soprano)

Ernesto – (baritone)

Daniel Mendoza – (dancer)

Phoenix – (dancer)

Chorus Master – (tenor)

large chorus and many dancers

Full orchestra (3+23+2/4231/tp/2 perc/hp/pfte/strgs)

multiple roles of all abilities – suitable for children aged 9-18

large chorus
professional band (9 players)

3 clarinets in Bb and A (2+Eb clarinet/3+bass clarinet in Bb)
trumpet in Bb
harp
piano
violin
‘cello
double-bass

for W11 opera website click HERE

Libretto by the composer

first performance 20 July 2011, Oundle Festival

Commissioned by the Oundle Music Trust for the 2011 Oundle Festival

p. Ali Boag d. Rebecca Desmond
c. Alexander Walker

cast

Nessa Husk – chairman of Husk Inc: Victoria Simmonds (mezzo soprano)
Rolfus Husk – her father – Edwin Hawke (bass)
Naya’il – a strange being – Derek Lee-Ragin (counter-tenor)
Syke – Nessa’s elder son – Toby Girling (baritone)
Fracto – Nessa’s younger son – Adrian Ward (tenor)
Mattie – Nessa’s maternal instinct – Alison Charlton-West (soprano)

(MINOR ROLES – taken by chorus members/children)
Young Syke and Young Fracto – children’s roles
Board members – children’s roles
A Secretary
Gili – A mountain village child
Two tourists – adults
A child, women, pilgrims
Press corps – a group of three adults (Announcer, Cameraman and Sound)

(CHORUSES)

SATB chorus (offstage): mysterious voices, funeral congregation, voices of the village
Semichorus: Unison chorus (onstage): Nannies, shoppers, Board-members, relatives and mistresses at funeral, villagers, devils
Children’s chorus: Village children, funeral congregation, surgeons, press

ORCHESTRA

accordion
harp
guitar
piano
percussion
2 violins
viola
‘cello
double-bass

LIBRETTO

VOCAL SCORE

Sc. 1: A coffee shop. Nessa is absorbed in her blackberry, conducting a business deal for Husk Inc. A waiter (Naya’il), a recent émigré, or an exchange student worker, interrupts her, wanting to practice his English. She fobs him off, and he clumsily drops a cup – at which point unearthly voices are heard, which she does not notice. She gives him her e-mail address to get rid of him.

Sc 2: Rolfus, terrifying patriarch and businessman, who bequeathed his company to Nessa, but demands to be kept abreast of every little detail, is hospitalized and infirm. We learn that there is an offshore leak that is out of control. He is frustrated that he cannot be present at an upcoming board meeting, and is briefing her. She, distracted by receiving a stream of enigmatic e-mails in fractured English (accompanied by unearthly music) protests that he is driving her too hard, and she doesn’t see enough of her family. Rolfus rails at her choice of husband, a weakling who has had to be paid off to disappear. We see (acted out as an ensemble number) a history of her marriage with her two children being raised, and her divesting herself of family ties by appointing Mattie to be her maternal instinct and her fashion sense, and her husband (represented by a scare-crow or blow-up doll) walking out and no one noticing. Nessa’s children, Syke and Fracto, grow from innocence to unruly teenagers, attention deprived and madly dysfunctional. Fracto is sullen and withdrawn and can only utter monosyllables and Syke is hyperactive. Rolfus, from his bed, despises his grandsons and vows that they will never run his company. He takes Nessa to one side and reveals irregularities in the company that he authorized without her knowing. Syke steals Nessa’s blackberry only to find all the enigmatic messages. He accuses her of having an affair and never paying any attention to them – a major adolescent tantrum, punctuated by monosyllables from Fracto.

Sc. 3: Board meeting. Environmental catastrophe looms, yet Nessa insists that Husk Inc. is too big to fail, despite panicking at Rolfus’s revelations. More enigmatic e-mails accrue on her blackberry and she now can hear the unearthly music. This distracts her, so that her board members accuse her of losing the plot. In the middle of the meeting, urgent news arrives that Rolfus has died. Before Nessa can react, a mysterious emissary (Naya’il) summons her to a briefing before a governmental inquiry.

Sc. 4: Rolfus’s funeral. The Priest (Naya’il) leads the congregation, which includes a grief stricken secretary, board members who need to prove Rolfus is dead, Mattie, Syke and Fracto. The service is disrupted by the late arrival of Nessa and then by her phone going off. The phone is answered by the dead Rolfus, who warns Nessa that she will never be alone. Nessa panics, grabs the children and jumps into a taxi.

ACT 2

Sc.1: A mountainous village, maybe suggestive of Nepal, chaotic and teeming. Nessa is incognito. Clamorous bicycle bells and car horns and beggars (children’s chorus) assail them. Fracto, from an internet café, alerts Syke to a worldwide search for the chairman of Husk Inc. The sons are finding the proximity of their mother disconcerting: now, she notices what they get up to and intervenes and offers advice. An enigmatic tour guide (Naya’il) approaches Nessa, offering to guide her and her sons to a retreat. As they leave, he runs over Gili, a village child and disappears into the crowd. The crowd turns on Nessa. Fracto and Syke slink into the crowd.

Sc.2: A filthy prison cell. Nessa, finally, reflects. Rolfus appears to her in a vision, and she dismisses/exorcises him. The prison guard (Naya’il), tells her that the village child accidentally run over needs an organ transplant to survive. Nessa donates an organ. With the help of a village doctor (Naya’il) the child is saved, and the village acclaims Nessa saviour. She donates other parts of her body to help the sick.

Sc.3: We see Rolfus in hell, appropriately boiling in oil.

Sc.4: Mattie arrives searching for the children. Syke and Fracto arrive with a local guerilla group of children to spring Nessa from prison. A Press Corps arrives, led by news of the miraculous healer. Naya’il wheels Nessa in, who is now just a head, and the Press recognize her as the missing chairman of Husk. She bequeaths the company to her sons, before the final, ultimate sacrifice.

© JULIAN GRANT 2010

for SATB choir and piano

Poems by Anne Pierson-Wiese

Commissioned by the Grace and Spiritus Chorale of Brooklyn, with a grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

fp Grace and Spiritus Chorale, c. James Busby. Friday 21 January 2011, Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, NY,  Saturday 22 January 2011: Lafayatte Avenue Presbyterian Church, Fort Greene: Sunday 23 January 2011, Old First Reformed Church, Park Slope