A first for Devon?

A First for Devon?

Preparations are well under way for Red Earth Opera’s performances of Mozart’s Opera “Idomeneo: King of Crete” at the Teignmouth Classical Music Festival on March 8th, and at Hannah’s Seale Hayne on March 28th. It will be semi-staged and sung in English with orchestral accompaniment.

The opera was written and first performed in 1781, it was revived in 1786 for a private performance in Vienna, and then it fell from popularity. The first performance in the UK was in 1934 (in Glasgow and in English). I drew a blank on finding an English performance in England, but have now discovered that the two sisters who first translated it were Maisie and Evelyn Radford, and that they produced the first English performance in Falmouth in 1937, taking it to London the following year. Reading up a little on their work, it is a fascinating story of encouraging great music in less obvious places and supporting home grown musicians. They adopted Cornwall as their home county in 1911, and over the next 50 or so years contributed greatly to the musical life of the area.

Red Earth Opera is a Devon company and the chorus and orchestra are mostly drawn from the county, with a few travelling from Somerset and Cornwall to take part. Some of our soloists have come from further afield to add their voices to this exciting project. We are delighted to be offering locally produced opera which is different to the mainstream companies, but is still affordable and approachable – something along the lines of what the Radford sisters were doing, but we have a long way to go to emulate them.

In its original form the opera contains a lot of sung dialogue (recitative) which Red Earth will be replacing and we have decided to simplify and shorten the opera by replacing it with narration. The music is glorious, and those who love Mozart’s music will be able to hear him exploring ideas which reappear in later and better known works.
A last word from the Radford sisters: “In spite of the improved facilities in the country for music and the arts there will always, we feel, be a place for the lone enthusiast; retired musician, teacher or student in search of experience, amateur player or singer, who feels the impulse to create something beyond his usual routine and to share his experience.”

For more information visit http://www.redearthopera.net/