Orchestral Reduction
Independent Opera’s first step in commissioning new work from composers was the re-orchestration of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande by composer Stephen McNeff for our 2008 production. The work reduced the orchestra to fit in the Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells, a total of 35 musicians.
“The two things that struck me were Debussy’s special way of handling the strings and the rich and subtle sound he achieves by the way he scores for the woodwinds… I realised that the original third and auxiliary woodwind and heavy brass could be adequately covered by smaller sections; a bigger challenge was to reproduce Debussy’s highly individual string sound with a reduced number of players. A number of things helped; first the chamber orchestra adaptation was intended for a smaller space than an opera house. When an entire string section plays together the ear also seems to hear what it wants to hear and in a small space it doesn’t take that many to produce what we recognise as a full orchestral sound. With judicious reallocation of the string parts and rescoring more as a composer would these days for a smaller orchestra, it has been possible to largely retain what Debussy wanted and stay true to his intentions.” Stephen McNeff
The work is now available to rent through Edition Peters Worldwide (excluding France)
Song Commissions
In 2017 we commissioned our first original composition, Water Lilies by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, set to a poem by Sara Teasdale. It premiered at the Wigmore Hall in 2018, performed by bass baritone Michael Mofidian and pianist Nino Chokhonelidze.
In 2019, composer Elena Langer collaborated with poet and librettist Glynn Maxwell to create the song cycle It’s Not You, It’s Me, written for soprano, baritone and piano. The work was premiered at the Wigmore Hall on Thursday 3 October, 2019 by Nia Coleman, Kyu Choi and Simon Lepper. This work was nominated for an Ivor Novello Composer Award in 2020 in the Small Chamber category.
Composer Ben Foskett and poet and musician Keaton Henson were commissioned to create a 15-minute song cycle titled A Dead Man’s Song for bass William Thomas and pianist Christopher Glynn. This premiered at the Wigmore Hall on October 15, 2020.
The briefs for each of these new works deliberately gave freedom to the composer to choose the subject matter and their collaborators.
Each of these works are available to view on our concert pages or YouTube channel
Large Commission
A Sheen of Dew on Flowers – Joby Talbot
A unique opportunity presented itself with the bicentenary of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s births in 2019. Independent Opera commissioned Joby Talbot to write a new cantata taking inspiration from Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet which was due to go on public display for the very first time at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington through the generosity of IO co-founders, Bill and Judy Bollinger. A Sheen of Dew on Flowers was premiered at The Raphael Cartoons gallery at the V&A and was given its public premiere at Barbican Hall the following evening in partnership with the Britten Sinfonia. The Barbican performance also featured Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, dedicated to Queen Victoria, and was broadcast as a live recording on Classic FM to an audience of 16,000.
“It wraps itself around every word, producing an alluring sound effect for every metaphor and building up to climaxes of considerable power.” Financial Times
The commission was not only Independent Opera’s first opportunity to present a large vocal and orchestral work, but also the chance to leave behind a musical legacy. It was written with the intention of being available in the future for performances by both high-level professional groups and choral societies and has subsequently received its US premiere.
It featured performers, Kelley O’Connor mezzo-soprano, Tobias Greenhalgh baritone and Natalie Murray Beale conductor with the Britten Sinfonia and Britten Sinfonia Voices.
Further information on the Barbican concert can be viewed here.