Shakespeare's sonnets reinvented by contemporary musicians
22 November 2006
A major new work by composer Gavin Bryars and featuring arrangements by musicians including Mercury Prize Winner, Antony Hegarty (in collaboration with Nico Muhly*) and former 10,000 Maniacs front woman, Natalie Merchant, has been co-commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Opera North.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s sonnets, Nothing Like The Sun: The Sonnet Project is a unique two-part performance curated by leading contemporary composer Gavin Bryars and makes its world premiere as part of the RSC’s ongoing Complete Works Festival**.
Opening at The Courtyard Theatre in February 2007, the first part of the performance features compositions by Muhly/Hegarty and Merchant, alongside those of electronic artist Mira Calix, Romanian violinist Alexander Balanescu and Irish singer/songwriter Gavin Friday. Bringing together a unique set of musicians, Bryars has invited each guest artist to set their chosen sonnet to music. The arrangements will then be performed on the 24 and 25 February 2007 by singers John Potter (tenor) and Anna Maria Friman (soprano) and an eight piece chamber orchestra from Opera North directed by James Holmes. Part of the RSC’s ongoing Complete Works Festival, the opening half of Bryars’ Nothing Like The Sun; The Sonnet Project will reflect the distinctive style of the five guest composers and straddle pop, contemporary and classical musical genres.
The second half sees the premiere of Gavin Bryars’ major new work - a 40 minute through composed piece based around seven of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Nothing Like The Sun will be performed by the same ensemble using a mixture of music, song and speech and a specially commissioned film by film-maker Pippa Nissen bringing music, voice and image together in a new way.
Following its world premier at the Courtyard Theatre as part of the Complete Works Festival, Nothing Like The Sun: The Sonnet Project will then travel to selected venues in the North of England throughout March.
Deborah Shaw, RSC Complete Works Festival Director added;
"Approaching Shakespeare's sonnets in this way using contemporary musicians and RSC actors seems like a perfect way to represent Shakespeare's sonnets within our ongoing Complete Works Festival. Part of our rationale behind the festival is to explore new and exciting approaches to interpreting Shakespeare's work - and it is no surprise that confessional songwriters like Antony Hegarty and Natalie Merchant are inspired by the poetry and raw honesty of Shakespeare's sonnets.
“This is the ideal project for the RSC to collaborate with Opera North on and as curator, Gavin Bryars has brought together an inspired mix of artists who deliver a truly original take on some of the greatest poetry ever written."
Dominic Gray, Opera North Projects Director summarises:
“Opera North Projects makes all of its work at the meeting point between the contemporary and the classical, whether this is in music, text and image. The RSC and Opera North are ideal partners to explore new ways of presenting a text as rich, varies and resonant as Shakespeare’s sonnets. Opera North has wanted to work with Gavin Bryars for many years. He is a leading figure across the worlds of jazz and contemporary classical music, he writes beautifully for the voice, and he has a great reputation for his collaborations with other musical artists.”
Ends
Further information
For more information, interviews and images contact:
RSC:
Jo Hammond
T: 01789 272351
joanna.hammond@rsc.org.uk
Opera North
Richard Ashton
T: 0113 223 3526
richard.ashton@operanorth.co.uk
Tour dates:
Sat 24, Sun 25 Feb 2007 at 7.30pm
Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Box office 0870 609 1110
www.rsc.org.uk
Saturday 3 March at 8pm
Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside
Arts Centre, Nottingham
Box Office 0115 846 7777
www.lakeside.org.uk
Tuesday 13 March at 8pm
The Sage, Gateshead
Box Office 0191 443 4661
www.thesagegateshead.org
Thursday 15 March at 7.30pm
Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
Box Office 0161 907 5555
www.rncm.ac.uk
Saturday 17 March at 7.30pm
Leeds College of Music
Box Office 0113 222 3400
www.lcm.ac.uk
Notes to editors
* Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly studied Music at the Juilliard School for composition in New York. His work has been performed by The American Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Academy of Music and the Juilliard Orchestra among others. Muhly has also worked with Björk's and collaborated numerous times as a composer, conductor, and arranger with Antony, of Antony and the Johnsons.
He is also a performer, playing the piano and celeste and has worked extensively as an editor and keyboard player for numerous stage works & film scores. His first set of evensong canticles was sung at Clare and Girton colleges, Cambridge and also broadcast on BBC3. He also wrote a new mass for Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York and collaborated on a 30-minute song cycle which was permiered at the New York Public Library. An album of his music (Speaks Volumes) will be released in Spring 2006.
** Complete Works Festival
In April 2006, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) launched the biggest festival in its history, inviting theatre companies from across the world and around the UK to join the Company in a unique, year-long celebration of Shakespeare’s complete works. The first time that all 37 plays, the sonnets and the long poems have been presented at the same event, the Complete Works Festival runs from April 2006 to April 2007 in Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born and died. With 23 RSC shows, 17 international productions and 14 by UK-based visiting companies, the festival also includes a full programme of events that will appeal to theatre and non-theatre goers alike. Further information can be found at www.rsc.org.uk
Gavin Bryars biography
"... The music of Gavin Bryars falls under no category. It is mongrel, full of sensuality and wit and is deeply moving. He is one of the few composers who can put slapstick and primal emotion alongside each other. He allows you to witness new wonders in the sounds around you by approaching them from a completely new angle. With a third ear maybe. . ."
Michael Ondaatje
Gavin Bryars, born in Yorkshire, was first of all a jazz bassist and pioneer of free improvisation with Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He subsequently worked in the USA with John Cage and in Britain alongside Cornelius Cardew. His early iconic works The Sinking of the Titanic(1969) and Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet(1971), both enjoyed major recording success in various versions. He has written extensively for the stage, including three full-length operas and dance works for, among others, Merce Cunningham, Edouard Lock and William Forsythe. He has been associated with many visual artists, as well as with early music performers, and has a long list of instrumental, orchestral and vocal works to his credit, for artists such as the Hilliard Ensemble, Red Byrd, Trio Mediaeval, Latvian Radio Choir and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Current projects include Theatre Cryptic, Von Krahl Theatre Tallin, and RSC/Opera North. Gavin Bryars now lives in Leicestershire and British Columbia and, as well as composing, performs internationally with his own ensemble.
