Philip Hagemann is an American composer of opera and choral music. At 92, his work spans over 80 items written over greater than 50 years. He is most recognized for his operatic settings of George Bernard Shaw’s performs and American literary classics. Now, almost all of his operas have now seen their UK debuts in partnership with Pegasus Opera, the predominantly black and asian opera firm. This 12 months, they current Hagemann’s Roman Fever alongside Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine (billed as ‘The Human Voice’). Roman Fever is predicated on American author Edith Wharton’s 1934 brief story of two Manhattan…
Rating
Excellent
A classy double invoice of contemporary and up to date opera.
Philip Hagemann is an American composer of opera and choral music. At 92, his work spans over 80 items written over greater than 50 years. He is most recognized for his operatic settings of George Bernard Shaw’s performs and American literary classics. Now, almost all of his operas have now seen their UK debuts in partnership with Pegasus Opera, the predominantly black and asian opera firm. This 12 months, they current Hagemann’s Roman Fever alongside Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine (billed as ‘The Human Voice’).
Roman Fever is predicated on American author Edith Wharton’s 1934 brief story of two Manhattan widows holidaying in Rome. Over the course of the story, jealousy and distress bubble up and one widow admits to the opposite that her daughter’s father is the opposite widow’s late husband. The common story was set to music by Hagemann in 1989 and it holds up properly right now in Josette Bushell-Mingo’s staging.
Of Hagemann’s work, that is the very best characterised. The music is made very good with camp exaggeration by our widows, carried out by Bernadine Pritchett and Alison Buchanan (Pegasus Opera’s Artistic Director). He has written many witty and sharp musical phrases for the ladies, and these are pounced upon with a bitchy coolness by the singers. Despite the problem of this unfamiliar work, the sound from the pit is pithy, with out shedding any expression; kudos to conductor Rebecca Tong.
The second work on this double invoice is Poulenc’s 1958 one act opera for soprano and orchestra. Nadine Benjamin sings Elle, a lady on the telephone to her former lover late at night time, looking for his approval with growing desperation. It’s a tough and fiddly work for singers and orchestra, as it’s designed to make operatic singing sound like a pure dialog. The random pauses and tiny, incremental rises and falls within the music are managed properly on this manufacturing. Benjamin’s vocal precision is beautiful; she is a heartbreaking Elle.
Both reveals are extremely stylish. Powder-white flats and a big orb are, to start, a baking, roman travertine backdrop with the solar scorching the backs of the widows after which a cool cell with a low moon voyeuristically peeping in on Elle in her nightdress. It’s all very stylishly designed by Peiyao Wang and lit by Nell Golledge (exhibiting wonderful talent regardless of not but having graduated from RCSSD). With two good works and distinctive artistry, these two reveals are the very best of Pegasus Opera and Hagemann-Rosenthal’s collaborations to this point.
Conducted by: Rebecca Tong
Directed by: Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE
Set and Costume Design by: Peiyao Wang
Lighting Design by: Nell Golledge
Produced by: Pegasus Opera and Hagemann-Rosenthal Productions
Roman Fever and The Human Voice have accomplished their present run. You can discover out about future productions from Pegasus Opera right here.