GOTHIC OPERA

The Werewolf + The Last Wizard 

A UK premiere double bill of operas by female composers

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27th October - 1st November 2022

The Round Chapel, Hackney

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Priority booking for Friends of Gothic Opera: Thursday 18th August, 11am

General booking opens: Thursday 1st September, 11am

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Now almost totally unknown, Le Loup-garou (The Werewolf) was performed at the Opera Comique when the composer Louise Bertin was aged just twenty-two. It explores how society can treat outsiders with suspicion. Although an anonymous review at the time stated that the work was good “for a woman,” Bertin has all been but forgotten as a composer and the opera never performed since.

 

We will be performing Le Loup-garou alongside Le dernier sorcier (The Last Wizard), written in 1867 by considerably better-known composer and singer Pauline Viardot to a libretto by Ivan Turgenev. Unheard in the UK before now, this opera tells the tale of a bad-tempered sorcerer, the target of teasing by the elves in the forest, and his daughter, who has fallen in love with a young prince.

 

United by their supernatural, fairy-tale like themes and their light-hearted but subtly sinister character, these two neglected operas will challenge you to experience something brand new this Halloween.

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Stage Directors: Eleanor Burke and Edwina Strobl

Musical Director/Conductor: Juliane Gallant

Assistant Conductor/Répétiteur: Francesca Lauri

Arranger (Le Loup-garou): Joshua Ballance

Arranger (Le dernier sorcier): Nicholas Žekulin

Set and Costume Designer: Anna Kelsey

Lighting Designer: Gabriel Finn

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