William Radice has collaborated with three composers so far:
Param Vir
Bernard Hughes
Johan Othman
| Music Work | ||
|
William Radice has collaborated with three composers so far: |
||
|
|
|
|
|
Param Vir |
Bernard Hughes |
Johan Othman |
|
With Johan Othman, William Radice is collaborating on an opera based on Conference of the Birds, the famous 12th century Persian poem Manteq at-Tair by Farid ud-Din Attar. A workshop performance will take place on Penang Island on 20, 21 and 22 November 2009, produced by The Five Arts Centre in Kuala Lumpur and co-produced by James Lochhead of the Little Penang Street Market. The director is Chee Sek Thim, and the venue is Wawasan Open University. A concert version of the opera was performed during the first week of July 2009 on Penang Island to showcase the work-in-progress of the production.
Johan Othman is also setting the poems in the dancing mouse (see Recent Books) for soprano and harp. A recording of the first poem, ‘the dancing mouse’, was played at the launch of the book on 16 June at the Museum der Arbeit in Hamburg, performed by Helen Radice (harp) and Angelika Huber (soprano). It was also performed by Chin Yen Lin (soprano) and Tan Keng Hong (Harp) for the Kuala Lumpur performance at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center on 13 July 2008 during the HSBC Young Composers Workshop 2008.
With Bernard Hughes, William Radice is planning a full length opera based on 3 stories by Saki.
For information about Param Vir’s settings of William Radice’s work, including the chamber opera Snatched by the Gods (based on a narrative poem by Tagore) see http://www.paramvir.net/
In India, William Radice contributed a note on ‘The Two Gitānjalis’, translations of 5 songs from Tagore’s Bengali Gitānjali and recitations (with Louise Coigley) of these and 7 of Tagore’s own translations, to The Dust and the Sunlight, songs and recitations from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitānjali, 2 CDs compiled, edited and directed by Debashish Raychaudhuri, Hindusthan Musical Products Ltd., IP 6173/74.
Events
In October, November and December 2009, English National Opera gave 14 performances of Puccini’s Turandot in a translation by William Radice first performed in 1995 and revised for this new production. The director was Rupert Goold, the conductor was Edward Gardner, and the roles of Turandot, Calaf, Liù and Timur were sung by Kirsten Blanck, Gwyn Hughes Jones, Amanda Echalaz and James Cresswell.
On 28 & 29 March and 4 & 5 April 2009, William Radice and Bernard Hughes attended performances in Cambridge, Massachusetts of Chincha-Chancha Cooroo, or The Weaver’s Wedding (first performed in 2006: see below) by North Cambridge Family Opera, directed by David Bass. More information at http://www.familyopera.org/drupal/node/33
On 4 November 2008, Where Rivers Meet, a CD by Zoe & Idris Rahman was launched at the Purcell Room at London’s South Bank. Translations of four of the songs on the CD were done by William Radice. The CD has been highly acclaimed. See www.zoerahman.com and www.myspace.com/zoerahman
On 9 and 10 August 2008 at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London, Dumbfounded!, a miniature opera based on a story by Saki, music by Bernard Hughes, libretto by William Radice, conducted by Tom Hammond and directed by Sebastian Armesto, was performed at Tête-à-tête The Opera Festival ’08. For more information see www.tete-a-tete.org.uk
On 3 July 2008 at the Drapers’ Hall in London, as part of the City of London Festival, the UK première of ‘Wheeling Past the Stars’ by Param Vir was performed by Patricia Rozario (soprano) and Rohan de Saram (cello). This cycle of four songs uses translations from William Radice’s Penguin Selected Poems of Tagore.
On 4 July 2008 at St Giles Cripplegate, also as part of the City London Festival, the BBC Singers gave the World première of ‘He Begins His Great Trance’ by Param Vir, a choral setting of ‘Brahma, Vishnu, Siva’ by Tagore, translated by William Radice in his Penguin Selected Poems of Tagore.
In 2007 ZAIDE, a narration in rhymed couplets to Mozart’s unfinished Singspiel of 1779-80 was commissioned from William Radice by Trinity College of Music and performed in London at St John’s, Smith Square (8 November, in aid of Cruse Bereavement Care) and Blackheath Halls (22 November). The conductor was Tom Hammond, and the role of Zaide was sung by Stefanie Kemball-Read. The narration was read on 8 November by Richard Stilgoe and on 22 November by Linda Hirst.
In December 2006 the children’s opera, Chincha-Chancha Cooroo, or The Weaver’s Wedding, music by Bernard Hughes, libretto by William Radice, was performed by W11 Opera at the Britten Theatre of the Royal College of Music. For information about this and other W11 productions, see www.w11opera.org/past_years/2006.html
For Helen Radice (William Radice’s daughter) see www.harpblog.info
Settings
As well as the settings by Param Vir, William Radice’s translations of Tagore have been set by
Knut Nystedt: ‘The Conch’, on Cantio: 20th Century Norwegian Vocal Music, The Vocal Quartet Quattro Stagioni (Quattro, QCD 9303, Oslo, 1994)
Jerry Gerber: ‘Unending Love’, on In Praise of Poets, Ottava Records, 2004, http://www.jerrygerber.com/inpraiseofpoets.htm
Jeroen D’hoe: ‘Unending Love’, with solo soprano, second movement of Symphony No. 1 “Open” (2005), www.jeroendhoe.org
|