The Jette Parker Artists offer a rare opportunity to enjoy the work of three women composers in one production, directed by Talia Stern, making her Royal Opera debut, and conducted by Peggy Wu. Haunting explorations of lost love feature in Elizabeth Maconchy’s The Departure (1961) and Charlotte Bray’s Making Arrangements (2012). In Elena Langer's Four Sisters, the three daughters of a deceased Manhattan business tycoon dream of spending his fortune, but their plans prove premature. This marks the world premiere of Langer’s chamber version of this comedy.

Making Arrangements was commissioned and produced by Tête à Tête Productions Ltd and first performed at Riverside Studios on 2nd August 2012. 

 A HAUNTING TALE, A DOMESTIC DRAMA AND A COMIC SATIRE

 This Spring, in the Linbury Theatre, the Jette Parker Artists present a thought-provoking collection of short chamber operas. The Departure by Elizabeth Maconchy features two characters, Julia and her husband Mark, as they prepare for a funeral with a devastating revelation at its core. Charlotte Bray’s Making Arrangements tells a poignant and dramatic tale in which infidelity and inattention have prompted the fracturing of a relationship. Lastly, composer Elena Langer’s irreverent and mischievous Four Sisters is a comic gem depicting three sisters’ shameless dreams of wealth following the death of their father.  

THREE DISTINCT MUSICAL STYLES

Conductor Peggy Wu says: “Elizabeth Maconchy is a very melodic composer. Her style is organic, heavily influenced by Vaughan Williams, and beautifully modal - this makes her language folk-song like and sonically relatable. Charlotte Bray’s piece is on the opposite end of the spectrum: disjunct, full of sharp angles, and texturally sparse. Her writing highlights the psychological states of her characters through very specific rhythms. When we get to Elena Langer’s piece after the interval, it’s as if she brings the two musical worlds of the first half together. You get disjunct moments - like when the sisters are arguing - and then there are stylish arias in between and private moments of reflection that are very melodic.”

A UNIFIED DRAMATIC APPROACH

Director Talia Stern says: “We felt that for these pieces to be in dialogue with each other, they needed to move forward in time. For The Departure, written in 1961, we kept it in the 1960s because we felt its mood and atmosphere are really rooted in that decade. Making Arrangements, based on Elizabeth Bowen’s 1920s short story, moves into the 1970s – a period that allows us explore gender dynamics of that era and women’s growing independence. With Four Sisters, which critiques America’s materialism and consumerism, I wanted to lean into the bold colours and shapes of the 1980s to really bring that world to life.”

MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Conductor Peggy Wu says: “In the Maconchy, listen out for an ominous offstage prayer sung in Latin. It’s very present throughout the piece and acts as a Greek chorus, colouring the journey of our protagonist Julia. In the Bray, the instrumental buildup in Act 2 is very interesting as the sparse texture suddenly ramps up and explodes into an instrumental climax, mirroring the character’s emotions. And in the Langer, the sisters’ arias always put a smile on my face. The piece also plays with transformation of quirky motifs: listen out for a cellphone theme and an alcohol theme – two of my favourites."