Miss Fortune: Why I wrote a real-life soap opera - the Guardian But I personally have been feeling thoroughly revived after. I hope that does not mean more trapeziums, please. The UK premire of Miss Fortune is on March 12th at the Royal Opera House. Both the score and the individual performances Photo:Judith Weir. full of truisms and clunky metaphors and for all its images of deprivation and violent disorder is about as streetwise as a visitor from Venus. The darker side of the "alienating effects of modern urban life" (as designer Anna Reid's programme note summarises both operas) are explored in Judith Weir's Miss Fortune (2011) based on a Sicilian folk story and dramatising a serious reversal of fortune and circumstances as its punning title implies, through the personified figure of fate. Meanwhile, the Chorus are a vital presence, losing all their money in the opening scene, only to reappear in increasingly direr straits. Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. a reference to Mozart's great scene where people on a beach are menaced by a sea monster. Judith Weir's Miss Fortune did not have a favourable reception when it premiered at Covent Garden in 2012, considered by some ill-suited to the Royal Opera House and lacking the musical engagement of her previously melodically rich operas and a decent libretto. 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. . And the greatest irony of all - Miss Fortune wins the lottery. She has a large catalogue of performed works to her name, which will silence any who doubt her considerable gifts, especially vocal. Full marks on all fronts. Nonetheless, having written her own libretto as well as the music, she was easy prey. 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. Composed 2000. Kyra Coppini, Production Sound Engineers Either way, it makes a good spectacle. Judith Weir's Miss Fortune at Covent Garden By David Karlin, 13 March 2012 There's usually plenty of hype surrounding a newly written opera performed at Covent Garden, but the carefully placed stories about Judith Weir's Miss Fortune are on the improbable end of the scale, featuring a flying kebab shop and a team of breakdancers. The subject of this piece was inspired by the Barbican building itself she describes it as 'an imaginary excavation of the Barbican Centre, burrowing through 2,500 years of historical rubble'. Judith Weir Interview - CompositionToday.Com Only Anne-Marie Owens's Donna, who runs a launderette, and Hassan the kebab-van owner, beautifully sung by Noah Stewart (the closest we get to beefcake), show signs of humanity. Most hurtle down the chute at once, all limbs flailing, and plunge straight into the wheelie bin of oblivion. full of truisms and clunky metaphors and for all its images of deprivation and violent disorder is about as streetwise as a visitor from Venus. Composer Judith Weir tells the story to her latest opera Miss Fortune at a recent Insights event at the Royal Opera House. Judith Weir is a composer who, despite a huge body of work that ranges from grand operas to piano concertos to songs for children, has never sought the limelight. At least that was Weirs intention to be relevant and in touch. Lydia Haynes Antonio Daz Fernndez Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Judith Weir | The Tree of Peace - YouTube Miss Fortune in name and deed. Presented byGuildhall School of Music & Drama. Ensemble. Sad to say but Judith Weir's sixth opera is an embarrassment. Views: 5 180. This new co-production receives its UK premiere in March 2012. . Judith Weir Interview - The Music of Christian Morris . We might use this to show you more relevant content, We might use this to let you know about interesting events to attend near you, We might use this to address you personally in our newsletters. In 2007, she was the third recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Andr Soares She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. The once-rich little heroine, dogged by cruel Fate,. Caroline Moores, Head of Recording & Audio Visual MISS FORTUNE is a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. Now based in London, she has had a long association with Spitalfields Music Festival; and has taught as a visiting professor at Princeton, Harvard and Cardiff universities. Fate - Andrew Watts. Vanishing . Published by Chester Music (HL.14035701). What drew me was finding something that would bring my performing friends together. If your booking contains several events the highest booking fee will apply. Judith Weir - Wicipedia The helicopter view: Opera Europa's Nicholas Payne, At the helm of the aircraft carrier: The Royal Opera's Oliver Mears, Raising the curtain: Jacquelyn Stucker on building momentum and opera's digital challenge, Meeting the Maestro: in conversation with Fabio Luisi, Spring and summer in Prague: your musical guide, Koen entrances the Rudolfinum with Martin miniatures, Lucid in music and narrative: ENO and Richard Jones, David is a co-founder of Bachtrack. Cludia Costa Gonalves, Ensembles, Programming & Instrument Manager Night AT the Chinese Opera (A) (1987) Operas. Edward Seckerson in The Independent (London) wrote of "Miss Fortune in name and deed" and described the opera as "silly and naive" and "a waste of talent and resources", with a libretto that "vacillates between the banal and the unintentionally comedic (or is that irony? Judith Weir's most recent major work is her opera Miss Fortune, which received its first performances on July 21, 2011 at the Bregenz Festival, directed by Chen Shi-Zheng and designed by Tom Pye. Indeed it has. R. 70. [16], The first public performance of Weir's arrangement of "God Save the Queen" was performed at the reburial of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015. Applying that usage, it has had many "adventures" over the years and the discard pile is high. My reworking begins with a financial crash and ends with an unlikely lottery win yet I didn't set out to write a piece about contemporary events. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2012. Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Definitions of Judith_Weir, synonyms, antonyms, derivatives of Judith_Weir, analogical dictionary of Judith_Weir (English) . No fee when tickets are booked in person. In places, where the orchestral score was particularly busy, some of the singing felt forced, with students pushing their voices beyond reasonable limits. Her struggles are closely shadowed by Fate sung by counter-tenor Kieron-Connor Valentine. Beri Valentine, Stage Management Props Supervisor In July 2014 Judith Weir was appointed to the 395-year old royal post of Master of the Queen's Music, in succession to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. [11] In 2023, Weir was announced as one of the composers who would each create a brand new piece for the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. BBC Radio 3. Her most recent opera, Miss Fortune, which opened in 2012, was . And the greatest irony of all Miss Fortune wins the lottery. Judith Weir - Infinite Women [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. For Rap read rhyming couplets. In the title role, Emma Bell does an admirable job of wrapping her voice around it all, without the audience ever getting a melody or a mood to remember. . Continue using the site as normal or read our But I personally have been feeling thoroughly revived after GSMD's energy-giving version of my 2011 opera "Miss Fortune" which opened at the beginning of March. For Guildhall School performances please use the Guildhall School entrance on Silk Street. Dominic Stokes* [8] In May 2015, Weir won The Ivors Classical Music Award at the Ivor Novello Awards. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Ema Cunha Born: 11 May 1954, United Kingdom Died: NA Country most active: United Kingdom Also known as: NA Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. For Rap read rhyming couplets. Judith Weir. Despite the more than merely polite cheers which greeted the final curtain, and which might have persuaded her that, just possibly, she had a success on her hands, within hours Weir was beaten black and blue by a scrum of negative opinion. So, turning convention on its head, weve a fatalistic riches-to-rags tale transposed from a Sicilian original and relocated in time and place to take account of the financial ills and social unrest of the here and now. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Miss Fortune. Guildhall Schools Opera department presents a double bill of operatic works exploring romantic love, fate and fortune. We remain indifferent to Miss Fortune (however persuasively sung by a red-wigged Emma Bell), her vulgar nouveau parents who lose their riches, the sharp-suited romantic interest, Simon (the lovely Jacques Imbrailo). Miss Fortune in name and deed. Photograph: Tristram Kenton, as it a plane, a boat or a train? I registered a faint sense that my opera plot was already out on the street, but I didn't think all the detail it contained the violent destruction of property, the collapse of the middle class would soon become true as well. She struggles, wins the lottery, casts aside money and goes off with the handsome prince, in his mercifully clean shirt. Weir, Judith (b1954) - Composer - Hyperion Records - CDs, MP3 and She held the post of Composer in Association for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 1998. Miss Fortune in name and deed. But this encyclopedic experience helps. OPERA NEWS, COMMENTARY, AND REVIEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. . Judith Weir - Wikipedia Leif Tse, Repetiteurs She had taken a hiatus to focus her energies on a host of other endeavours including orchestral composition and leading the BBC's annual composer weekend at the Barbican in 2008. The spare orchestration, full of scurrying chromatics, often glistening string writing and crisply atmospheric percussion, including piano, was potentially attractive and melodic, though its variety was mostly lost in the ROH auditorium. ), full of truisms and clunky metaphors" and "about as streetwise as a visitor from Venus". Her opera Miss Fortune opened at the Royal Opera House in March. Honours for her work include the Critics Circle, South Bank Show, Ivor Novello and Elise L Stoeger awards, a CBE and The Queens Medal for Music. Based on a Sicilian folk tale, Miss Fortune has some of the elliptical angularity of Weir's successful A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987). A new production of an earlier opera is always welcome news, to its composer at least, and it doesn't feel right to term these "revivals" - implying that resuscitation or even raising from the dead has been necessary. 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. Judith Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Guildhall Opera Double Bill | Barbican I've had the misfortune of reading a few reviews already, and so far I seem to be flying solo on actually recommending it - but I do think the basic ingredients are there. Opera: Voices & Orchestra. What you think of Miss Fortunes music will depend very much on personal tastes: I found it music to admire rather than to love. In some ways I feel I've seen the piece for the first time, in a staging (by Martin Lloyd-Evans) which very closely expressed my intentions when I first imagined it. Serendipity, rather than the fate which clings to the protagonist of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune, led me to catch the last night of a double-cast spectacular at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.What a tonic to find a top-notch young cast and orchestra working their disciplined socks off for conductor Dominic Wheeler and director Martin Lloyd-Evans after the dog's dinner of English . Tiago Costa Judith Weir - Minute of Listening Look out for the paean to the perfectly laundered shirt sung by Simon (the excellent Jacques Imbrailo), which is a moment of pure comic genius. Weir is a warmly admired composer, modest in manner but gritty in ambition, as anyone in her field has to be first to achieve, second to survive. Natalie Alfille-Cook For more access information, please visit ourAccessibilitysection. But with few exceptions Weir has created cardboard characters that neither claim our attention nor engage our sympathy. Benedict Swindells* Sad because Weirs folk inspired fables have won many friends, sad because she is a composerly composer whose luminous orchestral backdrops and singable vocal lines display an honest talent that never hides behind overworked technique. Its two central edifices the shape described above, as well as a big red louvred piece posed unsolved lighting problems, splitting instead of uniting the space. Welcome to the rich musical world of Judith Weir | WNO 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. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Giulia Lussoso Years ago, I read an Italian folk tale about a princess who, when her parents lose their money, is forced to live in poverty and make a living: weaving cloth, minding a wine store, washing clothes. The score was published by Novello in 1982, and lasts under ten minutes, making it one of the shortest operas, and is possibly unique in having . The best in live events, streams, reviews and articles recommended by our editors, delivered to your inbox weekly. But I personally have been feeling thoroughly revived after GSMD's energy-giving version of my 2011 opera "Miss Fortune" which opened at the beginning of March. A few quotes from suddenly redundant bankers made it into the libretto ("I'm going to clear my desk"; "I'll never find another job") but soon I and my opera were pondering the wider mystery of how random the universe is, and how it often seems there's nothing we can do about it. Judith Weir Miss Fortune - judithweir Commissioned by Bregenz Festival and the Royal Opera House and premiered in 2011, Miss Fortune is a contemporary re-telling of a Sicilian folk story. SELECTED WORKS BY shows" JUDITH WEIR "Weir is a creature of the theatre and it FINANCIAL TIMES. The Telephone / Miss Fortune, GSMD - brilliantly-executed double bill Watch online from 25 March. In food terms this was a programme comprising starter and main course, a well-designed menu beginning with a romantic comedy and followed by a picaresque meditation on fate with much to nourish the ears, eyes and mind. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Book Only. Voices & Orchestra. She was commissioned to compose an a cappella work for the state funeral of Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022, and wrote a setting of Psalm 42, "Like as the hart".[17]. Secondly and crucially, Weir turns Fate into a very real and live person. Judith Weir | NMC Called Miss Fortune, the story is about money, fate and fortune. Julian Hepple. During this time she began to write a series of operas (including, As resident composer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the 1990s, she wrote several works for orchestra and chorus (including, In recent years, Judith Weir has considerably expanded her choral catalogue, with regular performance by choirs worldwide of music such as her Christmas carol.
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