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FULL The Moot Virginity of Catherine of Aragon (Conor Mitchell) London 2017 Abigail McGibbon
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Moot Virginity of Catherine of Aragon
- Composer: Mitchell Conor
- Libretto: Conor Mitchell Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Robin Howard Dance Theatre, The Place, London, UK, The Belfast Ensemble
- Recorded: July 27, 2017
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Abigail McGibbon
- Conductor:
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Conor Mitchell
- Stage Designer: Conor Mitchell
- Costume Designer:
- Lighting Designer: Simon Bird
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Tête à Tête
- Date Published: 2017
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
This work was first created when the EU referendum was just a ‘promise’. In Northern Ireland we felt a possible split could have far reaching consequences for us – most importantly, the border and the peace process. It sparked a parallel: the Reformation – another split that echoes in the streets of Belfast to this day. What we’ve created is a spoken song-cycle comprised of 15 short poems or ‘songs’. The Belfast Ensemble’s mission is to investigate the form of music-theatre, so here the ‘songs’ are not sung, they are recited. Why not? As an ensemble, we wanted to get in a room with just the character and the actor. We spent a few weeks playing with events and Catherine’s past – loose text ideas. What was exciting to us was that the score, the text came after. The actor, the actor’s emotional highs and lows, her instinctive reaction to key events, THESE dictated the need – or not – for composition. The ‘opera’ here is the form – the composer being lead by the key dramatic investigator: the actor’s heart.
(VERSE LIST: 1. A Pendulum, 2. All Mother’s, 3. A Candle, 4. All Arthur’s, 5. A Cup, 6. We Swap, 7. Royal Blood, 8. The Sweating Sickness, 9. One Flesh, 10. Arthur’s Heart, 11. Rubies for m’lady Anne, 12. A Virgin, Still, 13. Unfit, 14. Catherine’s Dream, 15. A Call to Prayer)
Conor Mitchell is a composer and musical-dramatist from Northern Ireland. He is the recipient of the 2016, Arts Council Northern Ireland Major Individual Artist’s Award and is currently working on his body of symphonic and music-theatre work.