Judith Weir's music is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. Allegra Totaro-Wainwright, Assistant Scenic Artists Indeed it has. Nonetheless, having written her own libretto as well as the music, she was easy prey. More information, Don't have an online account? SELECTED WORKS BY shows" JUDITH WEIR "Weir is a creature of the theatre and it FINANCIAL TIMES. At least that was Weirs intention - to be relevant and in touch. In 1987, her first half-length opera, A Night at the Chinese Opera, was premiered at Kent Opera. Former Culture Secretary says he would 'rather be thrown into a pit of scorpions' than listen to one of Judith Weir's operas; . 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. Charlie Broad Charlotte Antingham Amongst her priorities in this role are the support of school music teachers, of amateur orchestras and choirs, and of rural festivals. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Firstly, when disaster strikes the family, our heroine leaves home for the mean streets of her own accord (in the original, she is cast out by her superstitious mother). Ensemble. Noah Stewart as Hassan and Emma Bell as Tina in the Royal Opera's production of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and conducted. Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. [13] Gerhard R. Koch, writing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on 25 July, had these observations: Miss Fortune moved to London in March 2012, garnering at least two negative reviews. 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. Hugo Haag, Cello The Sicilian tale on which the opera is based is a fairly standard story of the virtuous young girl who falls on hard times but whose virtue is ultimately rewarded; Weir changes it in two key ways. Weir, Judith (b1954) - Composer - Hyperion Records - CDs, MP3 and But Weir creates much variety of timbre and a fair degree of potency throughout. First things first: Chen Shi-Zhengs production, created for the works premire at Bregenz Festival last year, is one of the most visually stunning opera productions I have ever seen. Are launderettes, kebab vans and bankers really the stuff of opera? I was aiming to write an urban folk tale that reminded me of everyday life, colliding with the grandeur of opera. Judith Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Sad because Weir's folk inspired fables have won many friends, sad because she is a composerly. Book Only. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian. Judith Weir CBE HonFRSE (born 11 May 1954)[1] is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. . The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Miss Fortune is a reinvention of a Sicilian folk tale in which the comfortable life of Tina (Erin Gwyn Rossington), the wealthy daughter of Lord and Lady Fortune (Jacob Harrison and Amy Holyland), nosedives after a financial catastrophe. Her most recent opera, Miss Fortune, which opened in 2012, was . ), full of truisms and clunky metaphors" and "about as streetwise as a visitor from Venus". In January 2008, Weir was the focus of the BBC's annual composer weekend at the Barbican Centre in London. The UK premire of Miss Fortune is on March 12th at the Royal Opera House. Interview by A recording of this production will be available to watch online for free after the performances. But with few exceptions Weir has created cardboard characters that neither claim our attention nor engage our sympathy. 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. Judith Weir's Miss Fortune at Covent Garden | Bachtrack One of these days someone might actually commission one of the many young composers at the sharp end of musical theatre creative song writers with their finger on the pulse of contemporary living. Christian Morris talks to Judith Weir, whose new opera Miss Fortune will receive its UK premire on 12th March at the Royal Opera House. As resident composer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, she wrote several works for orchestra and chorus (including Forest, Storm and We are Shadows) which were premiered by the orchestras then Music Director, Simon Rattle. Alan Ewing as Lord Fortune, Emma Bell as Tina and Kathryn Harries as Lady Fortune in the Royal Opera's production of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal . Called Miss Fortune, the story is about money, fate and fortune. 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. It was a co-production with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London, and was written in English. Emma Bell, singing the title role perched five metres up on a rocky plinth, only now revealed that she was scared of heights. Miss Fortune - judithweir a reference to Mozart's great scene where people on a beach are menaced by a sea monster. Both portrayals were wonderfully convincing musically and dramatically, each singer having an easy stage presence and voices that hold the ear with roundness of tone and crystal-clear diction. Miss Fortune, Royal Opera | The Arts Desk Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office. Tina's wealthy family lose all their possessions overnight and she is thrown into a life of poverty. 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. And the greatest irony of all Miss Fortune wins the lottery. See the CVs for Guildhall School Final Year Production Arts students. The Vanishing Bridegroom and Miss Fortune. Gian Carlo Menotti The TelephoneLucy Segomotso Shupinyaneng, Ben Jonathan Eyers. By the end of the act, I was finding it all rather wearing, and theres little in the way of flowing vocal lines to lift the heart. In spite of all this, the libretto has some decent moments, particularly in the short second act in which Weir lets her hair down a little. Guildhall School of Music & Drama To those who ask what material like this is doing in an opera house, I can only reply that this story allowed me to write both opera and folk music at the same time, to invent work songs for modern jobs like dry cleaning, and to find present-day uses for beautiful operatic forms, such as the aubade, or dawn song which Hassan sings while tending his kebab van. Last year's Bregenz staging, the work's world premiere, was an opportunity to take strong action. Continue using the site as normal or read our Judith Weir is brilliant at writing atmospheric, descriptive music, but such music needs something to hang on to, like flesh needs a skeleton (another image of Fate).This libretto is so weak, it's embarrassing. He is a musical omnivore interested in almost all types of music, but with a particular love of Italian opera. Edit Now. Ivelina Ivanova Fate - Andrew Watts. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. About Judith Weir: British composer (1954-) | Biography, Discography Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. 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. As Miss Fortune sings of entering the "shadows" and "dark streets" of the real world, she's set upon by six representatives of this rough shadowy place, a gang of bopping black thugs, who go on to destroy the factory she's working for and torch a kebab van she finds herself taking shelter in. EC2Y 8DT. Archie Buchanan Bogdan Skrypka Georgia Lloyd* Her music often draws on sources from medieval history, as well as the traditional stories and music of her parents' homeland, Scotland. OPERA NEWS, COMMENTARY, AND REVIEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Miss Fortune Operas. The opera touches on many things relevant to modern life - the banking crisis, unemployment, sweatshop working conditions, the choice between money and love - but it doesnt have anything significant to say about any of them. Miss Fortune premiered last summer at the Bregenz festival in Austria, where local audiences received it warmly despite it being performed in English. Judith Weir. Molly Hands, Assistant Carpenters Yes, Tom Pye's design was beautiful, but stylised beyond the world of the circumstantial it could have accommodated any opera from Parsifal to Madama Butterfly. World premiere at the Bregenz Festival on 21st July 2011 at the Festspielhaus, Bregenz, directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, with the Prague Philharmonic Chorus (director Lukas Vasilek) and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paul Daniel. Select from premium Judith Weir of the highest quality. Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 10:43, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, "Queen's new composer Judith Weir hails 'boss', "The wonderful Judith Weir With a Barbican weekend devoted to her music, the composer Judith Weir is being feted as never before", "Queen had 'immensely detailed knowledge' of music, says royal composer", "Judith Weir to be appointed first female master of Queen's music", "News Judith Weir appointed Master of the Queen's Music Music Sales Classical", "Judith Weir: the female music master with royal seal of approval", "The Ivors 2015 Winners, Ivor Novello Awards, Judith Weir", "Ms Judith Weir HonFRSE The Royal Society of Edinburgh", "Andrew Lloyd Webber piece among new coronation music", "Judith Weir Armida (2005) Music Sales Classical", "Musical Work rises from the concrete Barbican", "The State Funeral and Committal Service for Her Majesty The Queen", "The Black Spider review Weir's opera is ghastly gothic treat", https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=judith+weir+scipio%27s+dream#top, "A ringing coda: the music at the Queen's funeral was both solemn and sublime", Judith Weir on the British Music Collection, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judith_Weir&oldid=1140504219, The Prelude (20182019, flute, violin, viola, cello), This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 10:43.