Royal Opera House to perform in TT

An associate artist of the Royal Opera House, Le Gendre’s chamber suite Tales of the Islands, which is based on the sonnets of West Indian Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, will be performed along with pieces by Mozart and Kodally.

Tales of the Islands was very well received by audiences during its premiere in London in April 2005.

The gala performance, which will be held under the patronage of President George Maxwell Richards, will take place on Saturday, August 26 at 7 pm at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s. There will also be a workshop performance and master class for young local musicians on August 25 at 10.30 am as well as a matinee on August 27 at 6 pm.

The University of the West Indies adjunct lecturer, Jessel Murray will conduct members of the National Sinfonia in the Master Class along with the Ensemble.

Another historic occasion will be the world premiere of the “West Indian” opera, “Bird of Night” by Trinidadian composer Le Gendre in London, England, at the Royal Opera in Linbury on October 19. Commis-sioned by the prestigious Royal Opera, Bird of Night is set in the 1950s in a Caribbean island during an Easter weekend.

The opera tells the tale of a young village girl, Apolline, who desperately begs her grandmother Nen-Nen, to teach her how to fly.

The grandmother refuses and instead encourages the girl to focus on her examinations.

With the arrival of a sinister couple, who promises to teach the na?ve Apolline not only how to become a bird of night, but much more, a battle for the young girl’s soul ensues.

An associate artist of the ROH, Le Gendre originally wrote the piece as a short work for ROH2’s “A nitro’ at the Opera” in 2002.

The complete two and a half hour opera was later commissioned by the Royal Opera House for the 2006 season.

Sung in English, “Bird of Night” will feature Yuval Zorn as conductor of the Britten Sinfonia, with Irina Brown as director and choreography by Cathy Marston.