Music: Nigel Osborne
Text: extracts from poems by Sergei Esenin

Bass/Dancer/Choreographer: Michael Popper
Cellist: Clea Friend
Pianist: Simon Smith

The poet Sergei Esenin was born in 1895 into a peasant family, and much of his work is born of a passionate love for his homeland and its people. He would live through and comment on revolution and world war, but it was in the mud and hardship of peasant life that he saw real beauty. Esenin was lionized by the artists and aristocrats of Petrograd and Moscow, being treated as something of an amusing – and brilliant – wild-man.

He was increasingly plagued by the bouts of alcoholism and depression which would lead to the fragmenting of his personality and, ultimately, his death. In December 1925 he wrote his last poem in his own blood, cutting his wrists in a failed attempt at suicide. The following day he succeeded.

The poems written towards the end of Esenin’s short and turbulent life are almost entirely autobiographical and yet they speak simply, with tenderness and brutality of the universal: of the transience of life and of our keen sense of this. “REMEMBERING… …FORGETTING” is not a biographical work, rather a tribute to the poet’s potent, perceptive and seductive voice.

In this, our second development of the project, we are moving the work away from the poignancy of its own history – Nigel’s original “Remembering Esenin” (1974); my original choreographic response to this (1984); our personal histories behind the creation of these – and more into the present. Many more of the fragments of the original score will now be played live so that the work can take on a fresh urgency, and one that is shared by all three performers. Perhaps our new version of the piece may be tougher, rougher than its predecessor…perhaps it will also be “readier”: more prepared to look ahead, as well back, in time.

Image by – Maria Falconer

Music: Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg.
Words: Dahn, von Schack, Hauptmann, Lenau, Storm, Rilke, Schlaf, Hartleben, Hohenberg, von Liliencron, Dehmel, Hart, Aram, Henckell

Julia Sporsen – soprano
Sergey Rybin – piano
Sebastian Harcombe – director
Alex Stone – lighting design

Julia Sporsén (soprano)
was born in Sweden and studied at the Operastudio67 in Stockholm before moving to London in 2004 to undertake her postgraduate singing studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Joy Mammen. Roles include Arminda La finta giardiniera (Mozart), Armida Rinaldo (Handel), Iphise Dardanus (Rameau)and the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, all for RAM Opera, and Violetta for Clonter Opera, Musetta (cover) for Scottish Opera and Donna Elvira for Amersham Music Festival. She has worked with conductors such as Sir Colin Davies, Laurence Cummings and Steuart Bedford and was the winner of the Opera Rara Patric Schimdt Bel Canto Prize in 2007 and the Flora Nielsen Song Prize in 2005. Concert engagements include venues such as the Crush Room, ROH and St. James’s Piccadilly and future plans include Donna Anna for English Touring Opera.

Sergey Rybin (piano)
was born in Siberia, Russia and studied at the specialised music school attached to the Conservatory of Novosibirsk. He continued his studies at the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, where, having gained the qualifications Professor of Piano and Ph.D., he held a teaching position for four years. Sergey completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Malcolm Martineau and Colin Stone, graduating with distinction in 2004 having won several prestigious awards. He has participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist’s Programme on several occasions and played Stravinsky’s Petrouchka at the Aldeburgh Festival. Recent concert venues include the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-fields. Sergey has also worked regularly as a repetiteur – for British Youth Opera (Così fan tutte, Romeo and Juliet, La Bohème, Don Giovanni); Birmingham Opera (Ariadne auf Naxos); English Touring Opera (Eugene Onegin) and, most recently, Garsington Opera (Ariadne auf Naxos).

Sebastian Harcombe (director)
was born in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales and read music at London University before changing direction to train as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Subsequent, extensive work in theatre includes leading roles in Remembrance of Things Past, The Oresteia, Happy Birthday Brecht (Royal National Theatre); Candida, Early Morning, Frankenstein (NT studio on tour); Macbeth, As You Like It, The Learned Ladies (Royal Shakespeare Company); Thyestes, Newton’s Cradle (Royal Court); World Music (Donmar Warehouse); Romeo and Juliet, The White Devil (Lyric Hammersmith); The Woman in Black (West End); The Duchess of Malfi (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and the films Carrington, Blitz, The Tulse Luper Suitcase and François Ozon’s Swimming Pool. Sebastian assisted on Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage at the Royal Opera House and has directed productions of Rosmersholm, The Maids, Dido and Aeneas/Alceste (Edinburgh Festival), Dreamlives (New End) and La Voix Humaine (Hampstead and Highgate Festival).

DREAMLIVES: Programme

Wasserrose (Waterlily) – Strauss/Dahn
Mein Herz ist stumm (My heart is silent) – Strauss/von Schack

Sieben frühe Lieder (7 early songs)
Nacht (Night) – Berg/Hauptmann

Schilflied (Reed song) – Berg/Lenau
Die Nachtigall (The nightingale) – Berg/Storm
Traumgekrönt (Crowned by dreams) – Berg/Rilke
Im Zimmer (Indoors) – Berg/Schlaf
Liebesode (Lovers’ Ode) – Berg/Hartleben
Sommertage (Summer days) – Berg/Hohenberg

Sehnsucht (Longing) – Strauss/von Liliencron

Erwartung (Expectation) – Schoenberg/Dehmel
“Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm”, Jesus bettelt

(‘Give me your golden comb’, begs Jesus) – Schoenberg/Dehmel
Erhebung (Exaltation) – Schoenberg/Dehmel
Traumleben (Dreamlives) – Schoenberg/Hart
Lockung (Seduction) – Schoenberg/Aram
Warnung (Warning) – Schoenberg/Dehmel

Ruhe, meine Seele (Rest, my soul) – Strauss/Henckell

Richard Strauss: 1864 (Munich) – 1949 (Garmisch-Partenkirchen)
Arnold Schoenberg: 1874 (Vienna) – 1951 (Los Angeles)

Alban Berg: 1885 (Vienna) – 1935 (Vienna)

Sigmund Freud: 1856 (Freiberg) – 1939 (Hampstead, London)

But we’re watching. And as her desperation grows she’ll do anything for attention.

The new one woman show from madestrange opera explores the darker sides of dating, romance and modern city life

Music: Michael Oliva
Words: Michael Oliva and Deepak Kalha

Michael Oliva
Originally trained as a biochemist, Michael Oliva is now a composer, with a fondness for writing operas and music for electronics and woodwind. He performs regularly with the contemporary music ensemble rarescale and also runs madestrange opera, which premiered his multimedia operas Black & Blue in 2004, Midsummer in 2005 and The Girl Who Liked to be Thrown Around in 2006. As well as over 40 theatre scores, works include Xas-Orion for oboe/cor and electronics, Into the Light for oboe and piano (both recorded by Paul Goodey on his CD ‘New Ground’), Torso for wind orchestra, Cyclone for wind quintet with piano, a piece for large ensemble and electronics The Speed of Metals, Night Crossing for wind trio with computer and Apparition and Release for quartertone alto flute and electronics. Michael also teaches composition with electronics at the Royal College of Music, where he is ‘Area Leader for Electroacoustic Music’ and lectures in music technology at Imperial College, London.

Deepak Kalha
Deepak Kalha lives and works in east London.

Bruno Mathez
Bruno Mathez is a French video artist dedicated to working in live performance, creating video in relation with the other arts, particularly music. As a cameraman and video-editor, he co-founded the association Hybreed in 2003, developing Veejaying and video projections for live music. With Hybreed, he produced several electronic parties and gigs in and around Nice, as well as in Austria, Italy, and the UK. In 2004 he also became video technician of the theatre troupe La Compagnie du Theatre Chou and has created two shows for them (Peter and the Wolf, 2004 and Rose Rosita, 2005). He has also worked on Murmure des Murs at Grasse Theatre, and is currently developing a dance project with Maria Svensson and Lizzie Sells, which has already won a prize at the Monaco Dance Forum 2006, leading to a residency in Tunisia and a co-production with the festival.

Natalie Raybould
Natalie read music at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and graduated with first class honours. She then attended the Royal Academy of Music to study with Joy Mammen and Clara Taylor, and graduated from Royal Academy Opera in 2002 with a Dip.RAM. Natalie has been involved in several of the most exciting advances in English opera in recent years. She created the role of Lover in the world première of Liebeslied/My Suicides (Clark/Blees Luxumberg/Duttman), a ground-breaking collaborative ICA/Genesis co-production. She also created the soprano roles for Six Pack, a collection of operas commissioned by ENO Studio in collaboration with Tête à Tête, and The Girl in the English-language premiere of Hamelin (Ian Wilson) for Opera Theatre Company Ireland, and was critically acclaimed for both productions. Other contemporary roles include Soprano A Man of Feeling (S. Oliver), and Natalya in the world première of A Proposal (R. Dubugnon). She has also worked with Almeida Opera, ENO, Aldeburgh Productions,The Clod Ensemble and SingCircle.
Concert experience includes Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire (many venues including the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam under Klaus Ager), Berio Sequenza, Donatoni Cinis, , Britten Les Illuminations, Tavener Akhmatova Songs, Handel Psalm 112, Ravel Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, Shostakovich Symphony 14 and Seven Romances on Verses by Blok, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, and the world première of The Glory Tree (Cheryl Frances-Hoad) as part of the 2005 FRESH! season on the South Bank.
Natalie recently created the role of Female Narrator in the world première of Pinocchio (Tuckett/Ward) for ROH2 at The Royal Opera House, which toured the UK after a residence at Linbury Studio Theatre ROH. Pinocchio was shown on BBC television in January 2006.
Future plans include Player Girl Death In Venice for Aldeburgh Productions and the 2007 Bregenz Festival, and Pierrot Lunaire, Maxwell-Davies Fantasia and 2 Pavans and The Glory Tree for the 2007 St Magnus Festival.

Carla Rees
Carla Rees (alto/bass flute) is an alto flute and contemporary music specialist. She is artistic director of rarescale, an ensemble which exists to promote the alto flute and its repertoire. She has performed as a recitalist throughout the UK, including at the Edinburgh Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and Proms Composer Portraits, and in several tours to Europe and the USA. Recent performances include a recital at the British Flute Society Convention in Manchester, and with rarescale in London. She works frequently with composers to develop new alto and bass flute repertoire, and has given over 150 premiere performances. She has recorded for the Capstone, Tetractys and Metier labels, in addition to soundtracks for short films shown on British and International television. As a teacher, Carla holds positions at Wycombe Abbey School and at the University of Nottingham, and has given masterclasses and workshops at many of the world’s leading universities and conservatoires, including the Royal Academy of Music in London, The Juilliard School in New York and UCLA, CalArts and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She also works as a photographer and has had her work published in the UK, France, New Zealand and the USA.

History
Commissioned by the “Sound Cube” concert series, The Girl Who Liked To Be Thrown Around was first produced at the An Tuireann Arts Centre, Skye in September 2006, and subsequently staged at the Royal College of Music In March 2007.

Debussy was long fascinated by Poe’s stories, and struggled for at least the final decade of his life to find a way to capture the essence and tone of Poe’s tale, leaving a series of three libretti and about 25 minutes’ worth of sketches for voice and piano. This performance will look at existing fragments and create a new piece of musical theatre from them, starting where Debussy finished, exploring and exploiting the possibilities offered both by Debussy’s musical material and Poe’s story.

Heroic Women is an action-packed opera that asks what it means to be truly heroic. The “cast” includes real and fantastical women such as Boudicca and Pope Joan. The ordinary women who serve each famous woman reveal dark, surprising secrets through sensuous guitar songs and loose chat. In contrast the Heroic Women sing operatically backed by an energetic minimalist score. Zenobia’s desert massage becomes a sensual exploration of womanhood, while St. Teresa of Avila finds thrills in spiritual ecstasy and raw sex. Susie’s opera is constantly shifting as she makes quick changes on stage and creates a fascinating art installation.

SUSIE SELF
Susie Self has sung roles in opera houses in Salzburg, Santiago (Chile), Strasbourg, Antwerp, Lisbon and Athens. She played Katisha in “The Mikado” in London’s West End and sang in many Opera Factory productions. As a composer she studied with Stephen Dodgson, John Cage and worked with Michael Finnissy on Covent Garden’s “Garden Venture”. Her second symphony “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” is recorded by the Moravian Philharmonic. Susie co-directs Selfmade Music with composer/cellist Michael Christie; with Arts Council funding they commissioned Avril Anderson, Steve McNeff, Priti Paintal, Katherine Pluygers and David Bedford. Heroic Women featured on Woman’s Hour, Radio 3, toured to Taiwan, Mexico and California, this is its London premiere.

Broken Voices presented by Artprojx and curated by Clare Fitzpatrick

Broken Voices is a multimedia performance by British artist Terry Smith in collaboration with the acclaimed sound designer and composer Ian Dearden and the internationally renowned vocalist Linda Hirst. An exciting sculptural intervention fracturing and crashing into a classical music score by Monteverdi, it explores the ephemeral notion of sound through performance.

For the last eight months installation artist Terry Smith has collaborated Linda Hirst and Ian Dearden to create a new sound installation entitled Broken Voices. In the creation of this new work Smith takes Duo Seraphim for 3 Voci by Monteverdi, which he begins to fracture and deconstruct in a way that allows only the carcass of the original score to exist. Smith embarks on an experimental work which leaves him operating outside of his comfort zone and asks the viewer to accompany him on a journey as he explores an interpretation of a classical score, which he carefully shifts equally outside of our comfort zone. Each of the four performances is an ‘open work in progress’ and a risk as he continues to push the work into a discord and disharmony scarcely displaying moments of clarity. It is determined by his own understanding of how sound occupies a space and a notion of sculptural pauses resting gently in thin air. Smith continues to make the process of creating work more difficult by allowing each of the works’ ‘open rehearsals’ to be attended by an audience, permitting a transitory glimpse as it progresses towards its final culmination as a sound and video installation at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill as part of the group exhibition Triple Echo.

Virtuoso cellist, bass-baritone and theatre-performer Matthew Sharp and pioneering transatlantic-composer/guitarist Pete M Wyer team up to create a new extraordinary celebration of the possibilities of music and theatre. Expect a rattle-bag of operatic yarns – Scheherezade meets your favourite bed-time story. Voice, cello, technical wizardry…and a rocking chair. Huddle round for strange, intimate and epic tales of the unexpected.

Developed within OperaGenesis at ROH2 and supported by the Genesis

In its new initiative to find original approaches to opera and music theatre for the 21st century and also new audiences for the lyric stage, Genesis Foundation and Bill Bankes Jones are working with French composer Jean Philippe Calvin to complete a one-act, absurdist piece based on the Eugene Ionesco play, La Cantatrice Chauve or The Bald Soprano commissioned by Genesis Foundation.

Musical Approach
The originality of the Ionesco text requires an original musical approach, one with which I have been playing in my mind since I first ran across the play. In fact you can still see it in its original production in Paris today at La Huchette Theatre where it has run continuously since 1959 with another Ionesco play, La Leçon, as the second part of the evening. (London has its Agatha Christie play, The Moustetrap, which has now run for over half a century; and Paris has its parallel long run in a double bill of Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and The Chairs.

My main motivation is simply this: wouldn’t it be wonderful finally to see a modern opera that is genuinely comic? One that uses all the resources available of modern digital music making as well? It is rare for contemporary opera to be comic, let alone Theatre of the Absurd comic!

I found myself wondering: just as Gluck was once inspired to reform opera by Italian Opera Buffa, can we perhaps inspire something new in contemporary opera for a contemporary audience based on the vision of Ionesco? This has been the question that has informed all my work on this piece so far.

Creating something completely new, fresh and dynamic by using today’s most recent musical technology and vocal writing seems to me to be the way forward. I am fortunate in finding full support for my approach at ROH2 from everyone involved with the OperaGenesis programme. I have also received enormous support and help from our studios in Paris at CCMIX (Centre de Création Musicale Iannis Xenakis) where the electronic parts of the opera are being created with the generosity of the director, Gerard Pape, and my friend Stefan Tiedje, to both of whom I am very grateful.

The full means at our disposal are being used – live singers, traditional orchestral instruments, electronic music and treated voices.

We are creating one individual work of music theatre while, we hope, at the same time developing new and exciting approaches that will also attract new and younger audiences to opera houses. This is their world and it will be reflected on the stage and in the music.

A small scale production with a medium-sized chamber orchestra and live electronics, that’s all we need to make a real breakthrough in what contemporary opera is all about. I use electronics purely in relation to the orchestra and singers to add a new dimension to my work and to the drama, as well as some modern sonorities. As for the libretto, since this opera will be in French/English I did my own adaptation of this work.

Music & Words: Osnat Schmool

Osnat Schmool – Composer/Musical Director
Osnat trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Goldsmith’s College. Her first show, Re:Love, premiered at the Bridewell Theatre in 2003 (directed by Carol Metcalfe, movement directed by Sabina Netherclift)

Osnat’s work draws on culturally diverse influences from Latin American and African music and dance to her own Middle Eastern and Jewish roots. She has worked as a jazz and a cappella singer and studied African and Latin dance and drumming. Her attitude to both textual development and musical composition is driven by combining experience as a performer with work as a teacher of unaccompanied vocal music. (The City Lit, ENO Bayliss, Bridewell). Osnat’s passion is for an energetic, physically based performance style and working with companies like the Gate, the Clod Ensemble and Scarlet Theatre allowed her to see how she could fuse this theatrical approach with her musical versatility.

Sabina Netherclift – Director
Sabina has collaborated with Osnat since the first workshop of Re:Love in 2003. She trained with Jacques Lecoq in Paris. As a performer she has worked with the RSC, the Young Vic Theatre, National Theatre Studio, the Clod Ensemble, Company FZ, Gate Theatre and The Lyric, Hammersmith. As director/movement director she has worked with The Royal Opera House, Crescent Theatre Birmingham, Birmingham School of Acting and Arts Educational. She regularly leads workshops for children and students of drama and is currently teaching physical theatre skills at Guildford School of Acting.

Carol Metcalfe – Producer
Carol Metcalfe was the Founder of the Bridewell Theatre and its Artistic Director for nine of its eleven year history. Under her leadership the Bridewell achieved an international reputation for its work in musical theatre; it became one of the few UK theatres, possibly the only one, dedicated to musical theatre and many famous musicals were given their British and European premieres there. At the height of its success, in January 2005, the Bridewell Theatre was forced to close because its landlords had financial problems. Carol continues to lead the Bridewell Theatre Company and to work as a musical theatre dramaturge, advisor and director. She was one of the judges of the Highland Quest supported by the Mackintosh Foundation and is now Artistic Producer for the winning show due to be premiered at the Eden Court Theatre, Inverness in November 2007.