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BlogOpera speed datingPosted on 28 September 2006
Last week I attended an 'opera speed dating' event, organised by Tete a Tete, who are setting up a new Opera Festival. People from all walks of opera life were there, and it was a lot of fun. I was also given about 4 minutes - yes FOUR - to compose 30 seconds of an opera scene, and that included working with a librettist to make the words! At the end of the evening 5 or 6 such scenes were run together, with a connecting piano motive, and the result was a remarkably consistent and decent-sounding new opera! One of the things the event brought home to me was how, with the closure of ENO Studios and BAC Opera moving on, there were really quite limited possibilities when it came to putting on new opera. Full marks to Tete-a-Tete for doing their best to turn things around. Update: I just found out the event was covered by The Spectator magazine, you can read it here Opera magazine reviews push!Posted on 04 September 2006
There's a very nice review of Push! in this month's Opera magazine: "The accompaniament mixed echoes of Britten, Looney Tunes and Janacek with an individual elan, and was consistently vivid and colourful. Bruce's writing for voice was also good...but - and this is what marks him out as a real operatic talent to watch - his management and musical texturing of stage ensemsble was exemplary, and he knew exactly when to let the music carry the emotional burden.' An article on Stravinsky's The Fairy's KissPosted on 14 July 2006
Over the years I have written quite a few articles, which rather than see languish in my attic, I thought would make a nice addition to this site. I will try to add them over the coming weeks. The first is an article in support of the much-maligned Fairy's Kiss by Stravinsky which I wrote for The Musical Times a few years ago. Push! premierePosted on 17 June 2006
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