Tagged with 'Gerald Barry'

Among the stars: Gerald Barry, Composer in residence at Theater Magdeburg, explores the unknown infinity of space in his latest orchestral work. What the Webb Telescope Sees is going to be premiered on the 17th of November in the Theater Magdeburg. The Magdeburgische Philharmonie is playing under the baton of Anna Skryleva.

On 18 October at the Donaueschingen Festival, Ensemble Musikfabrik and with conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini will give the world premiere of Gerald Barry's No People. for 13 instruments. The work which has been commissioned by SWR, draws on Barry's earlier work by the same name.

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Please note:
After the publication of this article, the Donaueschingen Festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, we would like to invite you to learn about this interesting composition.

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The title, No People. is taken from surrealist Raymond Roussel's 1932 poem New Impressions of Africa for which he commissioned 59 drawings to illustrate the text. The commission was given to the artist via a detective agency - the artist, not knowing who the commissioner was and having never seen the texts, would receive simple instructions such as 'Nocturnal Landscape. Very starry sky with a thin crescent of moon. (No people.)' from which to realize the drawing.

“together, the ordinary everyday drawings take on a strangeness they might otherwise not have had if the artist had drawn on with the poem's text in front of him. It's the juxtaposition of both unknowns - poem/drawings - that give the final work its strange quality.” - Gerald Barry

No People. will be performed twice at the festival at 11.00 and 15.00 on 18 October allowing for as many attendees as possible to hear the music.

• Gerald Barry: composer profile


• No People.: work details


• Donaueschinger Musiktage

On 3 February, the world premiere staging of Gerald Barry’s opera Alice’s Adventures Under Ground opens on the main stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Thomas Adès and directed by Antony McDonald. Composed between 2013-15 on a joint commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Barbican Centre in London, and Britten Sinfonia.

Barry’s sixth opera to date, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground followed on the immense success of The Importance of Being Earnest, which since its premiere in 2011 has been performed all over the world and has been heralded as a masterpiece of modern opera. Alice is based on both of Lewis Carroll’s famous books, Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in a libretto created by the composer. Like its predecessor Earnest, Barry strips the stories to their bones, cramming them into 55 minutes of bold music and surreal, laugh-out-loud comedy.

Gerald Barry – Alice’s Adventures Under Ground: a surreal and funny story

The book is very dramatic, and is an ideal vehicle for divas, male or female. It’s tremendous material for showing off – it takes these unbelievable things for granted, viewing them as normal. – Gerald Barry

Alice will be performed twice a day by a double cast on 4, 6, 8, and 9 February. The co-production with Netherlands Opera and Irish National Opera will be seen in Amsterdam and Ireland in future seasons. Also this spring, on 4 March at St Giles’ Cripplegate, the BBC Singers will present a portrait concert of Barry’s choral works and his new Cello Concerto will receive its world premiere by Tatjana Vassiljeva and RTÉ Concert Orchestra at Music for Galway’s Cellissimo Festival on 29 April.

• Gerald Barry – Profil


• Alice’s Adventures Under Ground – Work details


• Royal Opera House