JOHN Metcalf's new comic opera written in conjunction with Canadian playwright Larry Tremblay seemed to go down well at its English premiere.
Welsh-born Metcalf has joint UK/ Canadian citizenship and its first performance was in Swansea in 2005 in a co-production with a theatre in Quebec.
His music in this is resolutely tonal: no outrageous vocal demands made on the singers, just gratef
ul-to-sing vocal lines; no squeaks and the like from noted Canadian wind quintet Pentaèdre wandering about the stage in an accompanying role playing music independent of that of the singers.
The 70-minute piece is pure fantasy with elements of music theatre (video images are an ingredient) and concerns a film-maker – robust, virile-voiced baritone Pierre-Étienne Bergeron – who falls in love with his chair.
The Chair – splendid high lyric soprano Charlotte Ellett (flying the UK flag) – reciprocates which makes the film-maker's Dog – a fine-sounding bass Michael Douglas Jones (of American origin) – extremely jealous because he loves him.
We find this out when the canine consults a 'dogtor' (a poodle) – an impessive mezzo Mireille Lebel – who becomes a doctor when the film-maker consults her when things start going wrong. They get completely out of hand as a result.
It's leisurely-paced and harmless fun without being great, originality as such, being in Tremblay's libretto.
There is a second performance on Sunday and Pentaèdre have a concert 24 hous earlier – see Listings.
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