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Summer Music Festival | Contemporary Opera Week | Tuesday 2nd to Saturday 6th August


  • Holy Sepulchre London Holborn Viaduct London, EC1A 2FD United Kingdom (map)

Contemporary Opera Marin at Holy Sepulchre, the National Musicians’ Church

All performances FREE admission, in person concerts only.

Lunchtimes at 1-2pm with a repeat performance in the evening at 6pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday only. Friday will be 6pm only.

Tuesday, August 2 - 1pm and 6pm
Music to Save the Planet - three fascinating music theatre works with an environmental bent. (65 minutes)

HK Gruber - The Expulsion from Paradise - a modern retelling of the Old Testament story.

Frederic Rzewski - To the Earth - a moving setting of an Homeric ode for speaking percussionist.

Peter Maxwell Davies - Yellow Cake Review - an environmental cabaret for chanteuse and actors that was instrumental in thwarting construction of a nuclear plant on the Orkney Islands in the 80s.

Wednesday, August 3 - 1pm and 6pm
British mini-operas/(serious) pop by British composers/Britain speaks...with an American accent (75 minutes)

Amazing how much information can be packed into less than 8 minutes in this delightful collection of seriously audience pleasing works by Britain’s finest.

4 Mini-operas: Jonathan Dove-Greed/Julian Grant-Anger/Stephan Oliver- Cinderella/Barry Russell- First Love, LastOrders

4 (Serious) pop songs - Benjamin Britten-The Truth About Love/Cornelius Cardew- Work Song/Madeleine Dring-Belinda & Dot/Alec Roth-The Big Wash Cycle

4 Narrations - Stanley Hawley-Ballad of Hell/Roxanna Panufnik-Piano Tuner, Untune Me That Tune/William Walton-Polka & Tango from Facade/Judith Weir-Roll off the Ragged Rocks of Sin

4 (Serious) pop instrumentals: Sally Beamish-Penguin Cafe for piano trio/ Michael Finnissy (Gershwin)-How Long Has This Been Going On/Samuel Coleridge-Taylor- 2 spirituals for piano trio

Thursday, August 4 - 1pm and 6pm
American chamber opera...from a distance (75 minutes)

Gordon Getty - Dreaming of Emily, to keep away the dark - an intimate staging of Emily Dickinson poems.

Philip Glass - Wichita Vortex Sutra - Allan Ginsburg’s powerful anti-war poem with a gentle piano underscoring.

Leonard Bernstein - Trouble in Tahiti - the iconic 1950s American masterpiece for two soloists and jazz(y) chorus.

Friday, August 5 - 6pm only
It's All About Mozart (75 minutes)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff - Mozart & Salieri - Pushkin’s verse drama hauntingly brought to musical life by the Russian master.

Arron Jay Kernis - Mozart en Route - the young American composer (with San Francisco roots) gives us a brief update on Mozart chamber music.

Judith Weir - Scipio's Dream - a brilliant reimagining (and shortening) of Mozart’s early opera, made suitable for modern sensibilities.

Saturday, August 6 - MARATHON PERFORMANCE

1:00 Trouble in Tahiti (Bernstein)

1:50 Sally Beamish / Michael Finnissy (Gershwin) / Samuel Coleridge-Taylor pop instrumentals

2:15 2:30 2:45 3:15 3:30 3:50

Cinderella (Stephen Oliver)
Benjamin Britten / Madeleine Dring / Cornelius Cardew pop songs Yellow Cake Review (Peter Maxwell Davies)

Stanley Hawley / Roxanna Panufnik / William Walton / Judith Weir narrations Expulsion from Paradise (HK Gruber)
Greed (Jonathan Dove)

4:00 Mozart and Salieri (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff) 4:45 Mozart en Route Arron Jay Kernis)
5:55 Scipio (Judith Weir)
6:20 PARTY!!!