THE NEW LONDON OPERA GROUP
Presents a concert performance of
Bethlehem
by
Rutland Boughton
(1878-1960)
Cast (In order of singing)
The Angel Gabriel Zoë South
The Blessèd Virgin Mary Catrine Kirkman
Joseph (Her espoused husband) Nicholas Lester
Jem Chris Cann
Sym (Shepherds) Philip Hayes
Dave Graham Rogers
Angels Sally Hewitt
Fay Talbot
Zarathustra Chris Cann
Nubar (Wise Men) Philip Hayes
Merlin Graham Rogers
The Believer Megan Currier
Townswomen Sally Hewitt
Fay Talbot
The Unbeliever Ashley Mercer
Calchas (Herod’s Herald) Ashley Mercer
King Herod Mark van Ments
Herodias (His Wife) Ruth Elleson
Chorus
David Ayres, Tony Bannister*, Robert Brown, Juliet Crissell, Megan Currier*, Yvonne Davis, Alan Docherty, Ruth Elleson*, Sue Foister, Sally Hewitt*, Kuan Hon, Ayako Komaki, Jessie Lea, Sarah Logan, Jeremy Longley, David Massingham, Ashley Mercer, Peter Nicholson, Debora Parkinson, Elizabeth Pinel, Zoë South*, Fay Talbot*, Mark van Ments*
(* Semi-Chorus of Angels)
Orchestra
1st Violins: David Bignall (Leader), Elizabeth Cheadle,
Marieke Scholvinck, Geoffrey Hunter
2nd Violins: Duncan Garmonsway, Lulu Tanno,
Ji Joon An
Violas: Heather Power, Sophie Davenport
Cellos: Ruth Davies, Mayda Narvey
Double-Bass: Laura Moffatt
Flute: Carla Finesilver
Clarinets: Andrew Power, Deborah Salmon
Oboe/Cor Anglais: Pascal Pooran
Bassoon: Suzy Pearce
Trumpet: Robin Avery, Kenneth Yarham
French Horn: Timothy Jones, James Allen
Trombone: Owen Bourne, Marion Hinds
Timpani: John Hargreaves
Percussion and Piano: Timothy Roe
Production Credits
Musical Director: Benjamin Ellin
Pianists: David Bignell, Paul Guinery, Jon Hooper, Tim Roe, Martin Toyer
Production Manager: Chris Cann
Stage Manager: Steve Greenwood
Orchestra Manager: Graham Rogers
Poster Design: Alaric T Barrie III
Programme: Chris Cann
Front of House Manager:Bob Vaughan
Photographs of Rutland Boughton and of the 1915 première donated and reproduced by kind permission of Mr Ian Boughton.
Synopsis
Act I
Choral Prelude: Earth today rejoiceth
Scene i
The Angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary and announces that she will bear a son as a virgin. When the Angel has disappeared, Joseph enters, but does not believe Mary’s news, suspecting her of infidelity. They part, but the Angel appears to Joseph and explains all. Joseph and Mary are reunited and set off on their way to Bethlehem.
Choral interlude: At the ending of the year
Scene ii
In the hills outside Bethlehem, the shepherd, Jem, watches over his flock. He is joined by his brothers, Sym and Dave and they try and keep warm with song. A bright star is seen in the heavens and the voices of an angelic host tell the shepherds of the birth of the long-awaited Saviour in the town. The shepherds race off to Bethlehem, singing a rustic carol.
Choral Interlude: O come, all ye faithful
Scene iii
In the stable in Bethlehem, Mary has given birth to the baby Jesus, to whom she sings a lullaby. The shepherds are heard approaching and when they arrive, they improvise gifts, presenting the baby with their pipe, hat and mittens. Mary thanks them for their kindness and the shepherds go on their way with a reprise of their carol.
Choral Interlude: The Holly and the Ivy
*****INTERVAL OF 20 MINUTES*****
Act II
Scene i
In the main square in Jerusalem. Zarathustra has arrived in the city, following a star from the East which promises the arrival of a saviour. He is joined by two other travellers, the young Nubar, and the elderly Merlin, who have also been following the star. They decide to continue their journey together. A commotion arises in the square, as a young woman claims that a king has been born in Bethlehem, but she is shouted down by a man. He in turn is drowned out by the populace singing news of the baby (I saw three ships and The First Nowell). The celebrations are curtailed by the arrival of King Herod. When he hears that ‘three wizards’ have been heard asking after an infant king, Herod is gripped by panic. He orders that they be brought before him. Zarathustra, Nubar and Merlin arrive, and Herod endeavours to charm them. The Wise Men promise that when they have found the child, they will return and tell him the location so that he, Herod, may also pay his respects. When the Wise Men have departed, Herod erupts in fury and vows that no one will challenge his own power.
Choral Interludes: There was a star in David’s land
The Seven Joys of Mary
Scene ii
The Wise Men arrive at the stable and give their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby. They prophesy his ministry, death and resurrection. The Angel appears once again and warns the Wise Men not to return via Jerusalem and advises Joseph to take Mary and the baby into Egypt where they will be safe from Herod’s wrath. They set out on their journey, escorted by a heavenly choir.
Bethlehem: its past, its form, its future
By Ian Boughton, grandson of Rutland Boughton
(reprinted with kind permission)
The choral drama Bethlehem was first performed on 28th December 1915, at Street, near Glastonbury, Somerset, where Rutland Boughton’s greatest supporters, the Clark family, had established their famous shoe company. The performance was highly successful, and from 1916 Bethlehem was taken up by choral societies around the world and broadcast several times by the BBC.
Boughton adapted the libretto from the medieval Coventry Nativity Play and between the scenes placed his own arrangements of well-known carols. Three carols – “Earth today rejoices”, “There was a star in David’s land” and “The stars of the morning shall dance and sing” – were Boughton’s own. There are two acts, and the story tells of the birth of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Flight into Egypt.
The music is simple and in a folksong style; only the court of King Herod calls out stronger colours and a more dissonant manner. Originally Boughton intended the entr’acte carols to be sung in unison by the audience but experience of the first performance made him extend the arrangements. Boughton dedicated the work to “My children and to all children”.
Bethlehem has been heard but rarely since Rutland Boughton lost favour with his patrons 79 years ago. Productions since then have included Bath, Stroud and Ross-on-Wye 1935; Aylesbury 1947; Aylesbury, St Pancras (London) and Glastonbury 1950; Worthing 1952; St Pancras 1958; Glastonbury, 1958; Piccadilly (London) 1971; London Opera Centre 1972; Falmouth 1987; Dulwich 1990; St Albans 1995 and a 90th Anniversary performance at Glastonbury in January 2005.
Rutland Boughton and the Glastonbury Festivals
By Michael Hurd (reprinted with kind permission)
Of all the landmarks in the chequered history of British opera, none is more remarkable than The Immortal Hour, and no Englishman’s operatic career more curious than that of its composer, Rutland Boughton. The Immortal Hour still holds the world record for the greatest number of consecutive performances of any serious opera, and yet – save for the occasional amateur revival – it has been allowed to fall into obscurity and become, like its composer, the object of much patronizing, misunderstanding and not a little derision. During his lifetime Rutland Boughton was a controversial figure, as much the architect of his misfortunes as he was of his many triumphs. But now that the dust has settled, it is possible to look with a fresh and candid eye on his undaunted spirit and the work which his contemporaries regarded as a masterpiece.
Rutland Boughton was born in Aylesbury on 23rd January 1878. His father was a grocer, in a small and not very thriving way of business, and there was no money to spare for a musical education, even though the boy showed clear evidence of exceptional gifts. In 1892 he was apprenticed to a London concert agency. Though self-taught, he was full of confidence and his compositions soon attracted sympathetic interest, so that a fund was raised to pay for a brief period at the Royal College of Music where he studied under Stanford and Walford Davies. On leaving, in 1901, he endured great poverty but gradually made his way as a composer and eventually, in 1905, was offered a post in Birmingham at the Midland Institute of Music. Here he began to blossom – not only as a composer of choral music, a conductor and an inspiring teacher of singing, but also as a thinker and polemicist. Socialism, of the William Morris variety, and the principles of Wagnerian music-drama combined to play a crucial part in his development and, together with the poet Reginald Buckley and the artist Christina Walshe, he began to formulate theories for a specifically English type of opera which he called “Choral Drama”. By 1911 he was
proposing a commune of artists, living and working together as a direct and practical challenge to the conditions of London musical life which offered scant opportunity to any would-be operatic composer.
His dream of performances that grew directly out of a supportive community eventually found a degree of reality when, on 5th August 1914, the first meeting of the Glastonbury Festival took place. There was no theatre, only the local Assembly Rooms; no orchestra, only a grand piano. The performers were local amateurs and Boughton’s friends – many of whom enjoyed, or were later to enjoy, important professional careers. Everything was against it – even the times, for war had been declared the day before. But such was the driving enthusiasm and imaginative ability in overcoming obstacles that the experiment was a success. Not least of the triumphs were the three performances of The Immortal Hour, which first saw the light of day on 26th August 1914.
Save for a short period of military service, the Festivals continued spring, summer and winter, until the end of 1926 – collapsing only when he insisted on presenting his Nativity opera Bethlehem in modern dress as a gesture of solidarity with the miners and the General Strike. The scandal of Christ being born in a miner’s cottage, and Herod as a top-hatted capitalist proved too much for his fellow directors, and the Glastonbury Festivals were wound up in July 1927. By this time, however, Rutland Boughton was famous. He lived until 1960.
Of the seven choral dramas he wrote for Glastonbury, four were works of great power: The Immortal Hour (1914), Bethlehem (1915), Alkestis (1922) and The Queen of Cornwall (1924).
Cast Biographies
Chris Cann (Jem/Zarathustra)
Originally from Devon, Chris has lived in London since 1992. He has performed a wide variety of repertoire, including all the extant works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Roles include The Learned Judge (Trial by Jury), Major-General Stanley (Pirates of Penzance), Lady Jane(!) (Patience), The Lord Chancellor, Lord Mountararat, Strephon and Private Willis (Iolanthe), Pooh-Bah (The Mikado), Dick Dauntless and Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Ruddigore), The Duke of Plaza-Toro and Don Alhambra (The Gondoliers), King Paramount (Utopia Limited) and Ludwig (The Grand Duke). Other roles include Giorgio Ravioli (Gilbert & Cellier’s The Mountebanks), Florestein (Balfe’s Bohemian Girl) and parts in the world premières of Cold Comfort Farm (Earl P Neck) and Cinderella (Jetsam Seaweed) by Alaric Barrie and Il Travesti (Gordon Zola) by Neil Farrow and John Hargreaves, which he has also recorded. Chris is also an experienced director and has directed The Sorcerer (twice), HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe (twice), Princess Ida, The Mikado and Ruddigore, which he will direct for a second time for the newLOG Summer Tour in June 2006.
Megan Currier (The Believer)
Megan studied performance singing under Judy Bellingham at Otago University, New Zealand, and achieved her Masters degree in 2002. She has performed in widely in New Zealand including Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II), Carmina Burana (Carl Orff) and the world premiere of The Stars of Orion by Professor John Drummond.
For newLOG, Megan has performed the roles of Yum-Yum (The Mikado) and Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance) on the annual Summer Tour
Ruth Elleson (Herodias)
Ruth has sung numerous roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, including Ruth (The Pirates of Penzance), Lady Angela and Lady Jane (Patience), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado) and Martha (The Grand Duke). She has also sung in the chorus for almost the entire Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire. She has given performances of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at St Leonard’s, Streatham, and at the Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch, where she is a permanent member of the professional choir. Other professional performances include alto chorus with The Musicall Compass in performances of Dido and Aeneas (Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House)and Acis and Galatea (Garrick Club). She studies privately with Antony Brahms.
When not singing, Ruth is an administrator for a power company and the London correspondent for the online opera magazine, Opera Japonica.
Benjamin Ellin (Conductor)
Born in Bolton, Benjamin Ellin is a graduate of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied conducting and composition. He has studied with Sir Colin Davis and Bernard Haitink and has also participated in The International Workshop for Conductors in St. Petersburg, studying with Alexandre Polistchuk and Michail Kukuchkin with support from HRH The Prince of Wales.
Benjamin’s commitment to offering classical culture to as wide an audience as possible is best highlighted through his work with his own organisation, EMFEB, based in London, where their acclaimed performances have drawn new audiences to their work, and seen the organisation travel widely in Britain and abroad. Benjamin is also Principal Conductor of the Hayes Symphony Orchestra in Kent.
Benjamin is a committed exponent of 20th Century and contemporary music and he has drawn on composers to produce works for nearly all of his concert programmes. Benjamin has conducted in the Czech Republic, Germany, America, Holland, Spain and Russia and at venues including the Barbican Hall, Konzerthaus (Berlin) and the Hermitage Theatre (Russia). Highlights of his
2005-2006 Season include appearances with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra in December, performances of Haydn’s Creation and touring performances of Mozart’s Requiem in Jersey, Spain and North England.
Benjamin’s dual career as conductor and composer includes a prolific compositional output over a wide variety of genres. In particular, his work for the Drama department at the GSMD earned huge praise from visiting directors, actors and audiences alike. Stage work includes scores for the critically acclaimed Sheffield Crucible production of Iphigenia and CP Taylor’s Good at RADA. Benjamin’s Cello Concerto is due to be premiered next year. He is currently working on pieces for the young, successful trio Calisto and for the European Union Youth Orchestra at the request of their Musical Director, Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Philip Hayes (Sym/Nubar)
Philip Hayes began singing in choirs and opera groups at school and continued this at university as a member of University of London Opera Group for several years in chorus and principal parts, chiefly in G&S. Roles included The Defendant (Trial by Jury), The Duke (Patience) and Cyril (Princess Ida). He went to Aylesbury Grammar School, previously attended by Rutland Boughton, who wrote the school song!
Philip still sings regularly with Aylesbury Opera Group, recent roles including Count Almaviva (The Barber of Seville), The Prince (Rusalka) and Tamino (The Magic Flute). Next February he will be taking the roles of Basilio and Curzio in The Marriage of Figaro. Choral and oratorio solos include The Petite Messe Solonelle (Rossini), The Messiah, Mass in C (Beethoven), The Nelson Mass (Haydn), Elijah, Mozart Requiem, The Creation and Stainer’s Crucifixion.
Sally Hewitt (Angel/Townswoman)
Sally Hewitt has been a member of NewLOG since its beginning, and is delighted to be appearing as an Angel, despite not getting her promised tinsel halo! Previous roles feature an awful lot of Gilbert and Sullivan, including Pitti-Sing in newLOG's Mikado; Mad Margaret (Ruddigore) for its predecessor, ULOG, and and Baroness von Krakenfeldt (The Grand Duke) for Imperial College Opera.
Catrine Kirkman (Mary)
Catrine Kirkman graduated with a Masters degree in music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and continues to be taught by Jessica Cash. Recent operatic roles include Juliet in a new production of Britten's The Little Sweep at Aldeburgh, Laurette in the first English-language performance of Bizet’s Doctor Miracle, First Bridesmaid in a nine-week run of The Marriage of Figaro with the Savoy Opera Company at the Savoy Theatre, London, and the world premiere of Owen Bourne's "pub opera", The Salisbury Songs. Other recent engagements include a solo recital at the 2004 Cirencester Early Music Festival, and performances of Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Germany, Aldeburgh, and at the Globe Theatre in London. Catrine has also played the lead in many of the Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy Operas, including Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance) and Yum-Yum (The Mikado). Earlier this summer she appeared in Verdi’s Macbeth and Bellini’s La Sonnambula with Holland Park Opera, and as the Kitchen Boy in Dvorak’s Rusalka at Iford.
Nicholas Lester (Joseph)
Nicholas studied Classical Voice Performance for his Bachelor of Music at Adelaide Conservatorium of Music. In 2001 he was a Young Artist with the State Opera of South Australia appearing in Wagner’s Parsifal and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He has won various prizes in Australian Eisteddfods and toured extensively in Australia with CoOpera; Roles included Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)and Antonio (The Marriage of Figaro). Gilbert and Sullivan roles include Sir Joseph Porter (HMS Pinafore), The Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance)and Colonel Calverly (Patience). In the UK Nicholas has performed with British Youth Opera as Paris (Romeo et Juliette) in2005, as well as representing them as guest soloist for London Southbank University’s Honorary Degree ceremony. Recently he appeared as Marcello (La bohème)and Louis (The Wandering Scholar) for Minatour Music Theatre. Future plans include Macbeth (Macbeth - The Gatekeepers Opera)with Covent Garden Street Opera.
Ashley Mercer (The Unbeliever/Calchas)
Ashley is delighted to be back with newLOG this Christmas, having previously appeared with them as Ko-Ko in The Mikado on the annual Summer Tour. Other recent stage roles have included Caiaphas (Jesus Christ, Superstar) and Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (Anything Goes). A former member of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, he now performs with several choral groups in London including, for the past three years, the King's College London Chapel Choir with whom he has appeared on several recordings and Radio 3. In his spare time, Ashley studies physics at King’s College London, where he has just completed his BSc and is staying on for a postgraduate Master's in computational image analysis.
Graham Rogers (Dave/Merlin)
Graham Rogers has sung with many choirs and vocal ensembles including London chamber choir Pegasus, the York-based Ebor Singers and eight years with the BBC Symphony Chorus. He has also played many principal roles in productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operas including Dick Deadeye (HMS Pinafore), Strephon (Iolanthe), Florian (Princess Ida), Ko-Ko and the title role (The Mikado), Robin Oakapple (Ruddigore) and The Prince of Monte-Carlo (The Grand Duke). He is joint Musical Director of the New London Opera Group, with whom he conducted highly successful performances of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance earlier this year at the Riverhead Theatre in Louth, Lincolnshire, and at Imperial College, London. Next year he will MD the summer touring production of Ruddigore.
Zoë South (The Angel Gabriel)
Zoë’s early musical career was as a flautist, studying with Duke Dobing and the late Geoffrey Gilbert. Her freelance engagements took her all over Europe, and she also played regularly with the acclaimed wind quintet, Nota Bene.
She started singing professionally in her late twenties after realising that she was increasingly standing on the stage rather than sitting in the pit! Principal opera roles include Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Jezibaba (Rusalka), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Jane Seymour (Anna Bolena), Mrs Herring (Albert Herring), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro) for companies including Longborough Festival Opera, The Opera Project, Court Opera, Opera Holland Park, Swansea City Opera and Opera Box. Zoë has also made numerous television and concert appearances as a session singer, backing artists as diverse as Luciano Pavarotti and Russell Watson!
She is taught by Richard Smart, and is also coached by David Syrus. Zoë is the 2005 TOSW Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund Scholar.
Fay Talbot (Angel/Townswoman)
Fay, 26, graduated in Religious Studies from King’s College London in 2001 and now works as a manager in the civil service. Her past theatrical credits include roles in a variety of musical theatre shows including City of Angels, Chess, Personals, Little Shop of Horrors, Grease and Something’s Afoot in addition to numerous supporting roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Bethlehem is Fay’s first foray into the world of more serious English opera. When not working or singing, Fay has recently taken up the sport of fencing, along with fellow angel Sally.
Mark van Ments (King Herod)
Mark studied physics at Bristol University and only started singing after working as a computer consultant. Since then he has sung comprimario and principal roles for many opera companies in the London area, as well as touring with Swansea City Opera.
Recent roles include: Radames (Aida), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Macduff (Macbeth), Tamino (Magic Flute), Goro (Madama Butterfly), and Edmondo (Manon Lescaut). Mark also enjoys concert work and, as well as opera galas, has performed the tenor solo in many works including the Dvorak Stabat Mater, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Next month he is singing the tenor solos in Elgar’s The Apostles.
Engagements in 2006 include playing Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann for Pavilion Opera and covering Manrico in their production of Il Trovatore.
Mark studies with Richard Smart.