The Oval Portrait
A visitor arrives at a remote castle and is disturbed by the portrait of a young woman. As her husband painted her, the picture came alive - while she lived on only in his art...
The Oval Portrait has a surreal quality which examines the territory between life and art. Not a drama in the normal sense, with dialogue between characters, for example, but a story told through the medium of song.
The Oval Portrait
text after Edgar Allan Poe
Narrative opera for baritone solo (The Narrator) and Voices SATB (The Book)
Instruments: Bb Clarinet, Bass Clarinet in Bb, Viola, Cello, Piano
22 minutes 2013
First performances in association with The Opera Box at The Brunel Museum, London and The Croft Hall, Hungerford, in September 2017
Narrator Samuel Pantcheff
The Book Jennifer Witton, Elizabeth Karani, Daniel Joy, James Schouten
Director Mark Burns
Music Director/Pianist Edward Lambert
Lighting Designer Fridthjofur Thorsteinsson
Assistant Director Morgan Richards
text after Edgar Allan Poe
Narrative opera for baritone solo (The Narrator) and Voices SATB (The Book)
Instruments: Bb Clarinet, Bass Clarinet in Bb, Viola, Cello, Piano
22 minutes 2013
First performances in association with The Opera Box at The Brunel Museum, London and The Croft Hall, Hungerford, in September 2017
Narrator Samuel Pantcheff
The Book Jennifer Witton, Elizabeth Karani, Daniel Joy, James Schouten
Director Mark Burns
Music Director/Pianist Edward Lambert
Lighting Designer Fridthjofur Thorsteinsson
Assistant Director Morgan Richards
photos by Robert Workman
