Woodwose

Commissioned by Wigmore Hall Learning to write a community chamber opera to commemorate Benjamin Britten’s centenary year, I chose the classic Britten narrative motif found in Peter Grimes: an outsider figure and a suspicious community. My outsider is based on the wild man of the woods in English folklore, Woodwose, and his links to the Green Man.

Like Britten, I find working with members of the community essential in my music-making, and spent time with 140 participants aged 8-80 in generating ideas for the opera. I tasked the junior schools with collecting folk songs from their families’ heritages, resulting in a range of lullabies and playground songs from around the world. I investigated mythical monsters and bugbears with the adults and elders, and created elements of the ‘rough music’ with the adult community choir. It’s an opera celebrating community, folklore, trauma, and a connection to nature and wildness that many of us have lost.

Line-up/characters:

Woodwose - professional Tenor

Lonely Child - Treble (professional/non-professional)

Trees/Animals - children’s group 1 (approx. 30 singers, ages between 8-11)

 Village Children - children’s group 2 (approx. 30 singers, ages between 8-11)

 Village Adults - non-professional/professional adult choir

 Village Elders - 5-10 singers aged 65 and over, can be from Village Adults or separate group

Professional chamber ensemble (used to improvising): flute/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, vibraphone/floor tom, 'cello, double bass

The duration is 60 minutes (approx.).

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The opera was commissioned by Wigmore Hall Learning and premiered at Wigmore Hall, London on July 19th, 2013. It won a British Composer Award in the Education and Community Category in 2013.