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The Corridor & The Cure

Harrison Birtwistle, David Harsent, London Sinfonietta

What if old age can be cured in some kind of magical way? Commissioned by London's Royal Opera House and the Aldeburgh Festival, composer Harrison Birtwistle and writer David Harsent's new chamber opera The Cure tells the story of Medea, the witch who restores her father-in-law Aeson's youth with some powerful magic. The Cure has been written as the counterpart to The Corridor, which focuses on the fatal moment of Orpheus' backward glance at Eurydice. Each performed on the same set and under the same direction, these two pieces of music theatre are inextricably intertwined by their radical interpretation of two Greek resurrection myths. Performed by soprano Elizabeth Atherton and tenor Mark Padmore, this promises to be a gripping double bill. Programme

dates

Thu June 9 2016 8:30 PM

Fri June 10 2016 8:30 PM

information

  • English

  • Duration of performance unknown (inclusief een pauze)

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Sir Harrison Birtwistle used to be known as one of the most celebrated contemporary British composers. Many of his works premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in the east of England, which was founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten and his singer and partner Sir Peter Pears, following the example of the Holland Festival.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle used to be known as one of the most celebrated contemporary British composers. Many of his works premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in the east of England, which was founded in 1948 by Benjamin Britten and his singer and partner Sir Peter Pears, following the example of the Holland Festival.

The story has it that in 1968 during the break of Birtwistle's premiere of Punch and Judy, the founders stormed out in protest, exasperated by the violence of the plot and the nature of the music. 

 

But as they get older, many composers tend to become more solemn and restrained. Birtwistle, now 81, is no exception. The New York Times described the composer as 'once a gruff modernist, now the dean of British composition and Aldeburgh’s dramatic touchstone'.

Premiering last year at the Aldeburgh Festival, The Cure is Birtwistle's latest chamber opera. It has been written as the companion piece to The Corridor, which was staged at the Holland Festival in 2010. Both mini operas have librettos by the same writer (David Harsent), and were scored for the same six instruments (flute, clarinet, violin, viola, harp and cello) and the same voices (soprano and tenor).

 

Just like The Corridor, The Cure highlights one crucial dramatic moment from Greek mythology. In The Cure, this is the myth of the old, dying Aeson, Jason's father. Jason asks his wife Medea, a proud and fiercely independent sorceress, to give his father back his youth. Medea slowly revives Aeson with a potion made of herbs and her own blood. But she had not expected Aeson to grow younger and stronger, and starting to look more and more like his own son. When in the end she cannot distinguish between Jason and Aeson, she lusts after them both.

 

It's this transformation, as described in Ovid's Metamorphoses, from dying, old man to youthful vigour, from a hoarse whisper to a full tenor, which interests Birtwistle and Harsent. Conveying this change in minute detail, their single focus produces an intense and lyrical experience.

 

Birtwistle has adapted mythical stories before; in The Corridor, which deals with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice; and also Nenia: the Death of Orpheus, which was staged at the 2006 Holland Festival in conjunction with Theseus Game. With its pared down aesthetics and its compact ensemble, The Cure is typical of Birtwistle's later works. Described in one of the reviews as 'of an unparalleled beauty of colour', the score is performed by Elizabeth Atherton, Mark Padmore and the London Sinfonietta. Padmore is an international star who is seen as the consummate tenor of the moment and who has had work written for him by Birtwistle before. The world famous London Sinfonietta have, just like Birtwistle, always been esteemed guests at the Holland Festival.

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credits

music Harrison Birtwistle text David Harsent direction Martin Duncan stage design & costume design Alison Chitty light design Paul Pyant choreography Michael Popper cast Elizabeth Atherton Direction assistant Marc Callahan conductor Geoffrey Paterson assistant conductor Finnegan Downie Dear music performed by London Sinfonietta flute Karen Jones (fluit) clarinet Mark van de Wiel viola Paul Silverthorne, David Alberman harp Helen Tunstall cello Tim Gill orchestra leader Hal Hutchison production management David Pritchard supervision costumes Ilaria Martello wardrobe supervision Gemma Reeve commissioned by and a co-production of Aldeburgh Festival, The Royal Opera with the support of London Sinfonietta

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