The final performances of Life Stories will run tonight and tomorrow evening at Londonʼs prestigious festival of contemporary opera, Tête-à-Tête: The Opera Festival.
Life Stories is double bill of new one-act operas (Rest in Peace and Silent Jack) by Tim Benjamin, based on dark and gripping short stories by Anton Chekhov and Anthony Peter, and featuring the sensational voices of Taylor Wilson (mezzo-soprano) and James Fisher (bass), produced by Radius, creators of Emily and Madame X.
Rest in Peace: an old man wakes amid the detritus of 21st century consumerism, asking vital questions: Who is he? Why is he sleeping here? What causes the fever that plagues his mind? Before the final judgment we hear his tale, told through the questions and exclamations of his past, seared into his mind as the past unwinds.
Silent Jack: a young woman staggers into a secret cellar, the faded trappings of past glory decaying all around. Who is she? Why does she collapse, exhausted, craving sleep? Her final movements have arrived. We hear her tale, of riches and love won and lost, and we learn the terrible truth of the price of her struggle to survive.
Life Stories premiered at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, in 1st July 2015.
The operas will take place on 21 and 22 July, at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, The Place, London, 8:55pm.
The digital programme can be found here: http://radiusmusic.org/life-stories/
Tickets can be bought here: http://www.theplace.org.uk/life-stories-part-t%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-t%C3%AAte-opera-festival
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