a development and performance platform for librettos and texts for opera

Rough for Opera #19 – TEXT

performances and sharings

with librettists Simone Ibbett-Brown, Chris Harris and Jen McGregor

full programme here

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12th September 2024

Chelsea Theatre, London SW10 0DR

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Byline: Donna Quick

Simone Ibbett-Brown text and music

Susie Buckle, Jack Campbell, Julian Chou-Lambert and Gabriella Liandu performers

Ynys

Chris Harris text Sarah Lianne Lewis music

Thomas Ang, Elen Lloyd-Roberts and Gwion Thomas performers

Heaven Burns

Jen McGregor text Sarah Ann Marze music

Joanna Harries, Belinda Jones and CN Lester performers

for Second Movement

Claire Shovelton creative producer

Abigail Toland creative director

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Byline: Donna Quick

It had been a good day. Big promotion. Making a difference. Finally grown out that ill-advised dye job. So why did she feel so crap? Ah yes, that’d be the knife in her back.

A new cross-genre opera-in-progress of misinformation, misplaced vocation, and fools tilting at rumour mills.

Simone Ibbett-Brown shares songs and stories that bring joy, and reflect and affect the world we live in. Highlights include Shuck‘n’Jive with Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong (Soho Theatre, Bloomsbury); The Anonymous Lover, music by Bologne (Glyndebourne Tour); A Tale of Eurydice & Orpheus (Opera North); and FEAST (Wilton’s Music Hall). She studied at the University of York and Guildhall, later running a course on artist-activism. She’s a BBC R3 Next Generation Voice and Women of the Future Award-winner. simoneibbettbrown.com

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Ynys

On an island during a harsh winter, Han meets the stranger Anna whilst walking on the beach one evening. Anna makes an unexpected offer to Han: to pretend to be her father. Over time, uncertainties begin to emerge, and one of them must act, before the lie between them continues to grow.

Ar ynys yn ystod gaeaf caled, mae Han yn cwrdd â’r dieithryn Anna tra’n cerdded ar y traeth un noson. Mae Anna yn gwneud cynnig annisgwyl i Han: i esgus bod yn dad iddi. Dros amser, mae’r ansicrwydd yn dechrau dod i’r amlwg, a rhaid i un ohonynt rhwystro’r celwydd rhyngddynt barhau i dyfu.

Chris Harris is a writer and translator. He is the recipient of The Richard Carne Playwriting Award. His other plays include ‘Cariad yn Oes y Gin’ (Theatr Bara Caws) and ‘Golygfeydd o’r Pla Du’ (Theatrau Sir Gar). His works in development include: ”Gwen yr Arth Wen’ (Blackwood Miners’ Institute); ‘Y Boi Madfall’ (Theatr Iolo) and ‘Gwlad! Gwlad!’ (Awen, Eisteddfod). He also writes for radio and film: ‘Claddedigaeth Chwaer’ (S4C/BBC Wales), and short stories for the series ‘Tic Toc’ (BBC Sounds). ‘Ynys’ is his first opera. chrisharristheatre.com

Sarah Lianne Lewis is a Welsh composer of bold and imaginative classical music. Described as “quiet and delicate” and “full of imaginative sonorities”, her music explores subtle intricacies of texture, engaging audiences in unique soundscapes and sonic atmospheres. She often writes about connection, climate change and the natural world, informed by a female disabled perspective. Sarah is currently Composer Affiliate with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (2020-24). sarahliannelewis.com

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Heaven Burns

Scotland, 1662. Runaway housewife Isobel works for a charismatic witchpricker, John Dixon. She worships him, but when he’s accused of falsifying his identity, will she accept that he’s not the man he claims to be?

Jen McGregor is an award-winning writer, dramaturg, and director. Credits include Who Pays the Piper (Play, Pie & Pint), The Premorial (Birds of Paradise/Perth Theatre), Ghost Stories (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Divergent Sounds (City of London Sinfonia/Southbank Centre) and Matchmaker Theatre Productions’ The Real William Shakespeare… as told by Christopher Marlowe (EdFringe, touring).

Jen’s work explores themes of self-invention, death fear/death drive, and finding your place in a world in which you don’t easily fit. www.jenmcgregor.com

Sarah Ann Marze is a composer and vocalist exploring the interactions between words and music. She first fell in love with opera when she discovered that qualities she thought were weaknesses — her strong emotions, passion for drama and need to compose within some superimposed structure — were actually strengths in composing opera. She has since composed two chamber operas and hopes to keep writing opera forever! Sarah was chosen as a 2023 Marshall Scholar, now studying an MMus in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music. www.sarahmarze.com

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Claire Shovelton creative producer

Claire is a producer with over 35 years professional experience in theatre, opera, dance and classical music including the Barbican, the Young Vic, Riverside Studios, operafactory, Sadlers Wells, Early Opera Company and the commercial West End. She produces the award-winning ensemble CHROMA and collaborates regularly with the Royal Opera House, Britten Pears Arts and Tête à Tête: the opera festival.

With  25 years experience as a Hospitalière de Notre Dame de Lourdes – working in Lourdes hospitals with international teams caring for pilgrims from around the world – Claire also has a focus on inclusion and wellbeing in her performing arts work. Her roles include Creative Producer for BEAM and Quiet Songs, both addressing access provision, equity and collaborative processes in live performance practice. consultancy work includes Citizens of the World – a choir for refugees and their allies, and disabled-led theatre company Graeae. She serves as chair for music theatre company Filament . claireshovelton.uk

rough for opera

Rough for Opera is a dedicated performance platform for new opera and work in development, produced by Second Movement. Since 2011 Rough for Opera has supported new work by more than 50 composers and new music ensembles including Bastard Assignments, Alex Ho and Julia Cheng, Alex Mills, Hermes Experiment, Kate Whitley, Michael Betteridge and Benjamin Tassie. Rough for Opera returned in May 2023 with relaxed performances at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells. Rough for Opera #18 – Relaxed featured three new works from Annie Lee, Calla Esperanza and Hannah Calascione, and Ella Jarman-Pinto and Jennifer Farmer.

Second Movement is an opera company which supports new opera and people making opera for the first time. Second Movement