04-Apr-2010Schumann Review The Irish Mail on Sunday

A compelling tale of tragic, invincible love

If ever a romance should have had a happy ending, it was this one. Robert Schumann met Clara Wieck in 1828 when he was a piano student with her father. He was 18 and she – only nine – was a highly gifted pianist with a talent for composing. By the time she was 15, her father, who had big artistic and financial ambitions for her, was taking her on concert tours and didn’t want her near Schumann.  Yet, despite his opposition, they became unofficialy engaged when she was 18. On the day before her 21st birthday they were married. The same year, 1840, Robert produced some of his greatest love songs.

It was one of the great artistic love affairs but it came at a cost to Clara. Ultimately, she sacrified her own talents for the man she loved so devotedly. Not only did she have eight children, she also had the ordeal of providing support and encouragement for Robert, who was often suicidal. In 1854, he threw himself into the Rhine, was dragged out by some fishermen, commited himself to an asylum and died there 18 months later.

In Opera Theatre Company’s latest production, the tortured love story is narrated by the inimitable Ingrid Craigie, who also provides the voice of Clara. The presentation does a wonderful job of setting the songs in the context of their lives. The account of Robert’s death and the reading of his passionate love letter followed by Wiegenlied, the cradle song, was intensely moving. It was typical of director Annilese Miskimmon’s gentle choreography that turned a lieder recital into a compelling tale of invincible and tragic love.

The music follows the lovers emotionally, starting with the effusive love songs from Frauenliebe und Leben, restful moods in the Liederkreis and the playful duet Unterm Fenster (Under The Window). From there the mood fluctuates between moments of depression and optimism, but it always retains the sense of people living for each other.

Imelda Drumm and Julian Hubbard, singing solo and in duets, caught the full range of emotion in the songs, and David Bremner’s sympathic piano accompaniment also provided apt musical links through some of the better-known piano pieces.

Michael Moffatt

The Schumann Story: Clara & Robert

The Irish Mail on Sunday

April 4, 2010.

19-Aug-2009Opera Theatre Company

Opera Theatre Company (OTC) is the national touring company of Ireland. Based in Dublin, the company was founded to create high quality opera productions that can be presented anywhere, from a Church, to a community centre, or from a 600 seater Theatre, to a 100 seater arts centre. OTC has had national and international success with a number of baroque and early classical operas, as well as operas from the 20th century. In addition the company has commissioned and performed nine new operas by Irish composers. In addition to producing three new tours each year, the company has a lively Outreach Programme as well as the Young Associate Artists Programme.

08-May-2009An Evening of Opera Arias - OTC

Opera Theatre Company's Young Artist presented well-know and well-loved songs and arias in civic Theatre (Tallaght-Dublin) on 7th of May 2009

01-May-2009Acis & Galatea - Handel's Tour 2009

Love, lust and revenge contend in this dynamic, site-specific production. Galatea, a young and beautiful goddess, is in blissful love with a handsome shepherd Acis, however the brutal giant Polyphemus has his eye firmly fixed on her. Determined to win Galatea for himself — he creates mayhem on discovering she is anothers. With a compelling libretto by the great English-language poets John Gay and Alexander Pope, the enchanting choruses, touching arias, and dramatic twists will transport you to another time and place.

01-Sep-2007Orlando at The Source Arts Centre in Thurles

These are snippets cut from an hour-long programme that featured on Tipp FM’s Arts Show in September 2007, recorded during the production week for Handel’s Orlando at The Source Arts Centre in Thurles. In interview with Mick Coffey: our artistic director Annilese Miskimmon, conductor Christian Curnyn and countertenor Reno Troilus, explain their roles in relation to Orlando and generally within the opera world. The programme also included recordings of our singers in rehearsal, during set build (hence some of the bumps in the background) accompanied by repetiteur Aoife O’Sullivan, and we here present the two best quality of these recordings: William Towers as Orlando singing Hercules was yet no less the hero; and Reno Troilus as Medoro singing Dearest of laurels. As well as broadcasting locally, Tipp FM live-stream their programmes via the internet and you can find them here http://www.tippfm.com/