Judith Weir. What drew me was finding something that would bring my performing friends together. . In: Press release from The Santa Fe Opera, 22 August 2012. Please note you may need to update your password. Bogdan Skrypka Gounod's Faust from the Opra Bastille, Paris. [13], The American premiere of Miss Fortune was originally planned in 2011 by the Santa Fe Opera to be a part of its 2014 season, but it was announced in the summer of 2012 that the opera was to be replaced by the North American premiere of Huang Ruo's Dr. Sun Yat-sen.[22]. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Christian Morris talks to Judith Weir, whose new opera Miss Fortune will receive its UK premire on 12th March at the Royal Opera House. After this she spent several years working in schools and adult education in rural southern England; followed by a period based in Scotland, teaching at Glasgow University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. More information, Don't have an online account? Opera: Voices & Orchestra. In 1987, her first half-length opera, A Night at the Chinese Opera, was premiered at Kent Opera. . The once-rich little heroine, dogged by cruel Fate,. . Despite the layoff since summer, the staging soon exuded a dance-like motion we hadn't seen before. Rodrigues The work was made in co-operation with Margaret Williams. Did the huge generic trapezium in the middle of the stage represent the dizzying moral precipice over which we mortals all too often hurl ourselves, especially in the name of making opera? Judith Weir - Wise Music Classical Josh Law Is there another way?" Firstly, when disaster strikes the family, our heroine leaves home for the mean streets of her own accord (in the original, she is cast out by her superstitious mother). Not entirely, and not so extravagantly and hopelessly. The opera reworks a Sicilian folktale as a contemporary parable. Tina, their daughter Erin Gwyn Rossington (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Cleo Lee McGowan (2 & 7 Mar) Barbican Stanley Olden, Scenic Art Co-ordinator In collaboration with director Margaret Williams, Weir has created several opera films, including Scipios Dream, Hello Dolly, and Armida. My first pieces were at secondary school. 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. was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. But this time round, it seemed even more relevant than to pay onstage attention to this subject. Judith Weir is a Honorary Patron for Sound and Music. Kosta Popovic This is a libretto which vacillates between the banal and the unintentionally comedic (or is that irony?) The booking fee may be reduced on certain events. Guildhall Opera Double Bill | Barbican Use tab to navigate through the menu items. King Harald's Saga - Wikipedia In a stunning setting and scenery to rival these beautiful surroundings, Miss Fortune, the work of British composer Judith Weir, retraces the twisted steps of its bewildered female protagonist. So I arrived at Miss Fortune without any real idea of what I was going to get. Josephine Lockwood Judith Weir (Composer, Arranger) - Short Biography - Bach Cantatas Website Noah Stewart on Miss Fortune - Interview 9,070 views Feb 22, 2012 American tenor Noah Stewart on his Royal Opera House debut role in Judith Weir's Miss Fortune. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Last year's Bregenz staging, the work's world premiere, was an opportunity to take strong action. Edit Now. 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 work should not have been put on the Royal Opera House stage without rigorous overhaul, especially in a staging so crassly bare and wide open that the voices were left stranded, good singers reduced to reedy insubstantiality, the slim drama robbed of focus. Thus assured, they hurl themselves down with even greater animation. Next year, George Benjamin's commission Written on Skin will enter the fray and Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur a tale of loneliness with a furious but poetic score which was unquestionably a success is revived. Two days after this premiere, the Royal Opera House announced the 2012/2013 new season and defended contemporary work as adventure, not measured by normal standards of success. Miss Fortune Opera on Vimeo Everyone is meaner, more downcast, more jubilant. But at least all other elements of this colourful staging coalesced into something that intermittently held my attention. 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. The gap between failure and success in the theatre can be as narrow as a hair's breadth. A recording of this production will be available to watch online for free after the performances. Richard Jones' production is visually all over the place, but in a good way. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. 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. Its story talks about the difference betweeen being rich and poor, and I was criticised at the time for imagining that this would be a permissable subject for an opera. 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. Did it have to be this way? Fate Kieron-Connor Valentine Kosuke Shirai JUDITH WEIR AT 70 OPERAS. Register now, On sale to Guildhall Circle members Mon 29 Nov 10am. To those who ask what material like this is doing in an opera house, I can only reply that this story allowed me to write both opera and folk music at the same time, to invent work songs for modern jobs like dry cleaning, and to find present-day uses for beautiful operatic forms, such as the aubade, or dawn song which Hassan sings while tending his kebab van. Judith Weir - Wikipedia Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents a performance of Judith Weir's opera Miss Fortune. Frustration, frivolity and humour were all brilliantly served with a ready spontaneity that, with the chamber orchestras crisp playing, made this a delightful hors doeuvres for the darker humour of the evenings main event. . Iben Bering Srensen Lord Fortune - Alan Ewing. 14 | March | 2012 | The Theatre Reviewer Voices & Orchestra. Judith Weir CBE (born 1954) is a British composer and the first female Master of the Queen's Music. Judith Weirsoperais a story aboutTinaand how her life dramaticallychanges course overnight; it is a story aboutfateand fortune. Beri Valentine, Stage Management Props Supervisor As associate composer with the BBC Singers (2015-19) she completed two oratorios; In the Land of Uz, about the prophet Job; and blue hills beyond blue hills, to Zen-influenced verse by the Scottish poet Alan Spence. Emily Nellis, Stage Crew The banality of the text follows the banality of the narrative, and the music doesn't rise above it. Georgia Lloyd* Judith Weir CBE (born 1954) is a British composer and the first female Master of the Queen's Music. Hassan, a kebab seller Florian Panzieri (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Innocent Masuku (2 & 7 Mar) Andr Soares In 2007, she was the third recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music. Sad because Weir's 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. Location Each time her luck seems to take a turn for the better, she is beset by another misfortune until eventually, through a magical stroke of luck, she gains the hand of a prince, in town to collect his laundry. Judith Weir | The Classical Composers Database | Musicalics It didnt help that the singing from Rossington and Valentine lacked clarity and I had to second guess some of their dialogue. Miss Fortune in name and deed. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. Judith Weirs music has been widely recorded, particularly on the NMC and Delphian labels; and is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. For a full list of forthcoming and past performances visit the online calendar, You can view scores by Judith Weir online at her publisher's website or on Nkoda, To purchase sheet music on sale by Judith Weir ask your local retailer. Menottis parade of operatic models coloratura showpiece, rage aria and lament were effortlessly pointed up and the rapport between the singers was communicated with both tenderness and impatience. Lydia Haynes Miss Fortune | The Theatre Reviewer . Judith Weir - Sound Scotland Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. The four days of programmes ended with a first performance of her new commission, CONCRETE, a choral motet. Weir is far from incapable of working on a large canvas, but Miss Fortune is surely a chamber opera. Silly and naive. 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. Booking fees are per transaction and not per ticket. Weve plenty of places for you to relax and replenish, from coffee and cake to wood-fired pizzas and full pre-theatre menus. Katie Wong, Production Assistants In 2008, as I began writing, I walked past a sandwich board bearing the headline: "Blind panic as shares crash." Judith Weir (b1954 in Cambridge, England) first studied composition with a few lessons from John Tavener during her schooldays in London. But when the once wealthy Tina (a self-consciously red-headed but vocally resolute Emma Bell) turns on Fate (a wasted Andrew Watts) and halfway through this short and pointless evening enquires: Was it you who turned my life upside down? we know weve come precisely nowhere very fast. Judith Weir tells the story to Miss Fortune - soundcloud.com Each time her luck seems to take a turn for the better, she is beset by another misfortune until eventually, through a magical stroke of luck, she gains the hand of a prince, in town to collect his laundry. At least that was Weirs intention - to be relevant and in touch. Miss Fortune is a reinvention of a Sicilian folk tale in which the comfortable life of Tina (Erin Gwyn Rossington), the wealthy daughter of Lord and Lady Fortune (Jacob Harrison and Amy Holyland), nosedives after a financial catastrophe. When the curtain rose on the UK premiere of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune at the Royal Opera House, one thing at least was clear: this bright, coarse staging by Shi-Zheng Chen would flog the living daylights out of the opera's frail, pale construct, inflate it grotesquely beyond its natural size and, by this eye-catching but totally irrelevant visual aeration, render it all but nonsensical. 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. Winter Song. 28 pages. Emma Bell, singing the title role perched five metres up on a rocky plinth, only now revealed that she was scared of heights. See the CVs for Guildhall School Final Year Production Arts students. Bass clarinet Julia Sanchez Merino Lady Fortune Amy Holyland (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Laura Fleur (2 & 7 Mar) 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. Judith Weir's music has been widely recorded, particularly on the NMC and Delphian labels; and is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. Called Miss Fortune, the story is about money, fate and fortune. 7. Joana Praa* Sad to say but Judith Weirs sixth opera is an embarrassment. 5, Rimsky-Korsakov Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh LSO/Noseda. If you dont harbour too many expectations of a thought-provoking story, its worth going to see for the staging alone. Yes, Tom Pye's design was beautiful, but stylised beyond the world of the circumstantial it could have accommodated any opera from Parsifal to Madama Butterfly. She teaches at Cardiff University. Composed 2000. Expressive of face and voice this champagne-quaffing pair fulfilled their roles with suitable vulgarity. Miss Fortune Operas. The Telephone / Miss Fortune, GSMD - brilliantly-executed double bill 2.1.1 Miss Fortune (Achterbahn) 2.2 Other key works; 3 Selected recordings; 4 External links; 5 References Biography. Shana Moron-Caravel Eva Gaidoni DAME PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE: Facing The Music - A Life in Musical Theatre, Meyerbeer "Robert Le Diable", Royal Opera House (Review), GRAMOPHONE Review: Bartk Duke Bluebeard's Castle - Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/Mlkki, GRAMOPHONE Review: Prokofiev Symphonies 1 & 7/Lieutenant Kij Suite - Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Sokhiev, GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. 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. Susan Jane Matthews, organ1929 Skinner OrganSt. ), full of truisms and clunky metaphors" and "about as streetwise as a visitor from Venus". The evening began with a compelling staging of Menottis frothy score, a romantic two-hander with music somewhere between Broadway and Italian verismo and first performed in the UK at the Aldwych Theatre in 1948. Judith Weir MusicFirst Young Composers Competition She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. The kebab shop and the breakdancers are great, but Tom Pyes sets have much more: giant, mirror-smooth geometric structures are brightly lit in primary colours and turned by video effects into a shifting industrial landscape, all set against a plain screen background lit with vividly coloured gradients. She was a visiting distinguished research professor in composition at Cardiff University from 2006 to 2009. 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]. Albery's production allows the opera to speak for itself, although sluggish pacing in the pit detract from the musical merits of this revival. 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. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in 2011, and then staged at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2012. Tina (Miss Fortune) - Emma Bell. Alice Warburton Weir MISS FORTUNE - Full score Julia Bermingham, Staff Costume Supervisors R. 70. [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. Judith_Weir : definition of Judith_Weir and synonyms of Judith_Weir 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. Nina Lim Guildhall School of Music & Drama You can contact him from. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Planet Hugill - Intimate reinvention: Guildhall School of | Facebook I decided to use the tale as a basis for a new opera. By the end of the act, I was finding it all rather wearing, and theres little in the way of flowing vocal lines to lift the heart. Hassan - Noah Stewart The upper floor of The Telephones split staging neatly morphed into Miss Fortunes roof top balcony where Harrison and Holyland made their mark as the nouveau riche parents of Tina. It has been a hyperactive week for hubris, schadenfreude and any other not quite correctly used foreign words you care to scatter. Since a central theme of Miss Fortune is the big part accident and chance play in life, I wanted to write a role for Fate, who emerges from the shadows whenever events take a downward or upward turn, accompanied by his own personal cloud of chaos. Tiago Costa . What a waste of talent and resources. Sad to say but Judith Weir's sixth opera is an embarrassment. Judith Weir. From 2015 to 2019 she was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. Night AT the Chinese Opera (A) (1987) Operas. 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. WEI. But this encyclopedic experience helps. Judith Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images The Vanishing Bridegroom and Miss Fortune. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Joshua Saunders Judith Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Judith Weir Happy Birthday: Judith Weir, 58 | The Times But Weir creates much variety of timbre and a fair degree of potency throughout. In 2014-15 there were releases of The Vanishing Bridegroom (NMC) and Storm (BBC Singers/Signum). Judith Weir has a net worth of $5.00 million (Estimated) which she earned from her occupation as Musician. Ema Cunha Mae Weir wedi ysgrifennu sawl opera llwyddiannus, gan gynnwys The Black Spider (1985), A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987), Blond Eckbert (1994) a Miss Fortune (2011). Above all, I felt justified in having written the opera in the first place. Vanishing . 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 . Justin Anderson Urban dystopia: Guildhall School's double bill of Judith Weir's Miss Its probably not a good idea to come to Miss Fortune looking either for deep meaning or for authentic folktale. Presented byGuildhall School of Music & Drama. But I personally have been feeling thoroughly revived after. Judith Weir's music is published by Chester Music and Novello & Co. And Im not sure I want to think too hard about the statements it does make: for example, the breakdancing team Soul Mavericks are superb, but theyre cast as stereotypical hoodlums wrecking things with baseball bats. Phil Sizer, Staff Production Manager Now in her 50s, she is too experienced, too knowledgable about the bloodied history of most operatic endeavour to have expected to get off lightly. 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. Allegra Totaro-Wainwright, Assistant Scenic Artists [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. Natalie Alfille-Cook The result is closer to a classical myth in which the central message is that theres no point arguing with the gods. Kyra Coppini, Production Sound Engineers In London, the tricky proposition of portraying a chaotic cloud has been undertaken by Soul Mavericks, breakdancers with an amazing ability to perform hundreds of complex patterns, often in mid-air. Her opera Miss Fortune opened at the Royal Opera House in March. Published by Chester Music (HL.14035701). 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. Tobias Campos Santinaque Judith Weir (Composer) Wiki, Biography, Age, Husband, Family, Net Worth Originally intended as a curtain-raiser for Menottis The Medium, the worksalternative title,LAmour trois, refers to the rival claims of a telephone that incessantly interrupts Bens attempts to propose marriage to Lucy before he catches his train. Opera on 3 Judith Weir's Miss Fortune. This is a libretto which vacillates between the banal and the unintentionally comedic (or is that irony?) YouTube Encyclopedic. Miss Fortune is Birtish composer Judith Weir's first operatic composisition in the last 17 years. Violetta Suvini* Much of her music has been recorded, and is available on the NMC, Delphian and Signum labels. Written specifically for performance on American television in 1947, Gian Carlo MenottisoperaThe Telephoneis a romantic comedy in one act, written for just two singers and a hand-picked chamber ensemble of instrumentalists. Set within Bayview Developments, an exclusive estate agents (where clients are assured of no social housing) we meet the sales girl and chatterbox Lucy, Segomotso Shupinyaneng, and the ever-patient and earnest Ben, Jonathan Eyers. 024 IN 2. Judith Weir Wiki - everipedia.org 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 . Miss Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images The orchestral music also seemed much bolder and more colourful under Dominic Wheeler's direction, and in the hands of GSMD's vivid student orchestra. 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. If nothing has changed musically, this small staging worked well, at least in dramatic terms with terrific visuals and spot on acting. She has also created new music for many community groups and schools, including Burntwood School Wandsworth, Aberdeen Art Gallery, St Marys Church Dover and Greenacre School, Barnsley. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Popularly known as the Musician of United Kingdom. Judith Weir Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. Judith Weir | Page 3 | British Music Collection 145 Miss Weir Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE Collections Project #ShowUs Creative Insights EDITORIAL VIDEO BBC Motion Gallery NBC News Archives MUSIC BLOG BROWSE PRICING ENTERPRISE VisualGPS INSIGHTS BOARDS BASKET SIGN IN Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO She studied with John Tavener while at the North London Collegiate School[3] and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. 1 / 3. She was an oboe player, performing with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and studied composition with John Tavener during her schooldays. In collaboration with director . Jamie Hulme No fee when tickets are booked in person. At least that was Weirs intention to be relevant and in touch. Christos Maltezos* Judith Weir's Miss Fortune at Covent Garden | Bachtrack Miss Fortune in name and deed. Judith Weir was born into a Scottish family in 1954, but grew up near London. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at . 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'. Its not standard opera house instrumentation - even with a grand piano and much percussion, relatively small string and woodwind sections leave a fair amount of space in the usually crammed orchestra pit. Weir was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1995 Birthday Honours for services to music. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office.[2]. The most recent opera is Miss Fortune, premiered at Bregenz in . Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents. The best in live events, streams, reviews and articles recommended by our editors, delivered to your inbox weekly. Our privacy policy was last updated on Friday 31 January 2020, Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 12 March 2012. Miss Fortune - judithweir . Welcome to the rich musical world of Judith Weir | WNO Judith Weir - Wicipedia The second act has greater pace and vitality: the wise, witty Weir of old is back on form, but too briefly. 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. Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA. Ben Upthegrove Jonathan Eyers (28 Feb & 4 Mar), Jack Holton (2 & 7 Mar), Lord Fortune Jacob Harrison