Shorts review: Promising future and younger audiences at Buxton Opera Festival
Opera must move with the times if it is to capture young hearts and secure its future, which is where an innovative new festival ideas steps in, writes Mavis Kirkham.
Buxton International Festival seeks “to invest in the future of opera”. They therefore commissioned seven award winning writers and composers to craft new short operas from scratch. This resulted in four new 20 minute operas.
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The four works all addressed major dilemmas of modern life and all were innovative. They shared a basic set and musicians. Beyond that they were very different.
“Tears are not meant to stay inside” concerned a black South African woman, alienated from modern life, who sought healing from a traditional healer. This story allowed for an exciting variety of music and dance. But in 20 minutes it was impossible to address the dilemmas of seeking answers to modern problems from a source rooted in a very different traditional culture.
“Disorderly House” told a story of a working class gay man in London in 1927. He braved a party of gay people who accept his sexuality but had a very different background to his own. Then there is a police raid. The opportunities presented by opera were seized with catchy melody and dance but there was little time for nuance.
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“Life gets stretched” followed a young couple fleeing war and trying to build a committed life. This ambitious project, rooted in folk music traditions made innovative use of the simple set by revolving it. We were asked not to worry what the words meant but opera lovers are used to sub-titles and this was a bit disconcerting.
“Inevitable” addressed responses to the need to work to prevent destruction. It centred on the need to crank a clock to prevent the end of time. This powerful theme did not make use of the many dimensions of opera as it lacked melody and movement beyond the relentless ticking of the clock.
It would be wrong to compare any of these short works, performed at Pavilion Arts Centre Buxton, with the work of great masters with which they were surrounded at the Festival. But they were exciting and richly varied, which promises well for opera in the future. They also attracted a younger audience which is great. We look forward to more shorts or even rather longer new operas at future Festivals.