So having written the second draft of the opening scene of The Sandman, Lavinia Murray (librettist) and I (Laura Bowler-composer) are looking forward to seeing it on its feet at the Linbury on the 3rd, 4th and 5th February. With rehearsals coming up next week, I’m apprehensive about the initial impression that the music has made on the singers…hopefully a good one. However, with the support of John Lloyd Davies and Lindy Tennant Brown, I’m sure that the scene will fully expose what the opera is going to become! I don’t know another opera that begins with a ‘Weed Killer Aria’ and the performance instruction, ‘manic, stratospheric divarish trophy girl’!
I’m thrilled to have Joseph Bolger as the countertenor playing the Sandman for the excerpt performance, as he was part of the initial work-shopping week with ROH2 in 2010 at the Jerwood Space. He’s also pretty used to singing my work now and has yet to say no or look sheepish at the thought of performing it! Having premiered my work for countertenor and symphony orchestra which explores the application of Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty to music performance and composition, and starring as a homosexual stalker in Trains of Thought at the Tete a Tete Opera Festival 2010, I’m sure that the Sandman will be a refreshing change for him!
Listen to Joseph Bolger- Masquerade
thesandmanchamberopera 