Little England: Scenes from a Small Island 

Conductor Leo Hussain

Cast from La Chappelle Musicale

La Monnaie, Brussels 26, 28, 29 April 2009

Punch and Judy by Harrison Birtwistle

Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell

Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten

A Dinner Engagement by Lennox Berkeley

A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber

Powder Her Face by Thomas Ades

The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamin Britten 

Little England set out to explore themes of satire, gossip and scandal and expose the hypocrisy that abides within all strata of society.  An underlying world of fairies, witches and puppets watched as small-minded people went about their increasingly ridiculous lives before the entire world was torn apart by grief.   

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‘Frederic Wake-Walker is the brains behind Mahogany Opera, an electrifying young company…This benevolent venue combined with a provocative and arresting staging to make Mahogony’s double bill one of the most exciting and electrifying evenings I’ve spent at the opera in recent seasons. Wake-Walker took Stravinsky’s “Renard” and Walton’s “The Bear” and presented them in tandem without a break‚ so that the first melted effortlessly into the second…it was “Renard” presented in an extraordinary non-naturalistic staging inspired by the stage directions of the great Soviet-era director Vsevolod Meyerhold that lifted the evening and made it something truly special.’

Roderic Dunnet, Opera Magazine

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“This is Mahogany Opera’s third production since their inception in 2003, and there is every reason to expect great things from them in the future.  One of their stated aims is to give young professional singers an opportunity to perform, which is worthy in itself; but how much more so when, like Curlew River, the production is so assured and compelling…Director/producer Frederic Wake-Walker has pulled off quite a coup.”

Opera Now 

“Mahogany Opera’s Director and Producer Frederic Wake-Walker grasped these disparate threads and welded them together to deliver one of the most memorable evenings of music drama that I have ever been priviliged to attend.” 

On an Overgrown Path Blogspot

“Mahogany Opera is a very talented company, and Curlew River is a very ambitious project for such a youthful troupe. However, at the conclusion of the performance, those who’d been listening with eyes closed off and on throughout broke into instant rapturous applause. Seasoned opera buffs were sure to respond in kind. But perhaps the real art of Mahogany Opera’s mindfully detailed production of this unusual piece lays in the fact that it still manages to come across as an extremely compelling experience, even for those whose ears and eyes are not acclimatised to its musical score and influences.” 

Mary Couzens Extra! Extra!

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Michael Tanner, The Spectator

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Glyndebourne Festival August 20, 23, 25, 28 2009

“That it worked as theatre was largely thanks to Frederic Wake-Walker‚ whose slick direction exploited the adapted studio space to its full potential‚ and maintained a strong sense of momentum throughout”

Opera Magazine

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- a work for singers, tape, narrator and ensemble – as part of Mahogany’s Towards A New Movement project.  Written for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s birth, Laborintus II inspires a programme which arcs from medieval troubadour music beloved of Dante to John Adams’ Son of Chamber Symphony. 

This concert is also the first of Aurora’s new residency at LSO St Luke’s which consists of nine concerts over three years featuring cross-arts collaborations with a variety of groups and ensembles.

Friday 19 March 2010 at 8pm

LSO St Luke’s EC1V 9NG

Box Office 0207 638 8891 or www.barbican.org.uk

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World Premiere

Rory Boyle   Composer

Dilys Rose    Librettist

Derek Clark Conductor

Frederic Wake-Walker Director

Anna Jones Designer

Mark Doubleday Lighting Designer

Saturday 20, Monday 22, Wednesday 24, Thursday 25 March

7.15pm

New Athenaeum Theatre

“Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious.”

In 2006 Composer  Rory Boyle won a Creative Scotland Award to write an opera about the 19th century German foundling, Kaspar Hauser, with a libretto by the Edinburgh-based writer Dilys Rose.

Kaspar Hauser, also known as The Child of Europe, first appeared in Nuremberg in 1828, later claiming to have spent most of his childhood and early adolescence locked in a dungeon, fed on bread and water and constrained. He became a curiosity of the day, with people flocking to see him, and the subject of numerous books and essays. Various theories surrounded him – that he was a prince of the House of Baden, a feral child brought up by wolves, the son of a cavalryman, or, more simply, an imposter.

Hauser’s birth and death are shrouded in as much mystery as his short existence. Following one attempt on his life, he was stabbed to death at the age of 21; his origins were never discovered, nor was his killer.

This version of his story is seen from Hauser’s viewpoint; a strange and fascinating story, not only of child neglect but also of exploitation.

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“Director Frederic Wake-Walker’s production bristles with ideas…Wake-Walker achieves superbly disciplined movement from the vast cast of children”

East Anglian Daily Times

“…an elaborate‚ memorable and remarkable production directed with ingenuity and flair by young Suffolk based director Frederic Wake-Walker…the whole production was intensely moving right up to the last note…a triumph”

Eastern Daily Press

The sixtieth anniversary performance of Benjamin Britten’s Let’s Make An Opera (The Little Sweep) at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh 14, 15 November 2009.

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