Work of the Week - Richard Ayres: No. 42 "In the Alps"

As the sole survivor of a plane crash, a young girl grows up alone on a mountain passing the time singing amongst the goats when one day she hears a trumpet playing in the village band in the valley below. The trumpeter in the village band is enchanted by her singing and sets off to find her …

This is the story of Richard Ayres' new work No. 42 (In the Alps – an animated concert). Originally the Dutch based, British composer (who gives all his compositions numbers instead of names) planned to bring a herd of goats onto the stage, but now the animal sounds will be produced by the instrumentalists of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. Meanwhile, the soloist Barbara Hannigan (soprano) is sure to have limbered up her vocal chords for the yodelling style singing she'll be needing on stage.

The world premiere is taking place on 4 April at the Odeon Theatre in Zwolle, with further performances until 13 April in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht.  Audiences in the flattest country in Europe can expect a bizarre and eccentric journey into the mountains.