The Fire-eater from Sideshows performed live on BBC Radio 3 by Constella OperaBallet
mezzo-soprano & ensemble
Poems by Martin Kratz
Awarded Philip Bates Prize for Composers'
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Initially commissioned for the 20x12 New Music Weekend at the Southbank Centre and first performed as a song-cycle on the 15th February 2014 at the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall by mezzo-soprano Rachel Maby and Manchester University's Music Society conducted by Tom Goff. Sideshows was then developed into a stage work for Constella OperaBallet in August 2014 (more info) which has received numerous performances and broadcasts and widespread acclaim.
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"Fun, fizzing and contemporary"
BBC Radio 3
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"Excellent musical mayhem"
The Daily Express
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"anarchic fairground fun"
The Opera Magazine
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Duration 20mins | Difficuly Professional
Scoring
mezzo-soprano | clarinet in Bb | Violin, cello | piano
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Synopsis
Sideshows are the stalls and performances that accompany a carnival or circus on tour. They are peripheral to the main event in terms of both geography and status. The song cycle, Sideshows, draws attention to some of the sideshows’ neglected players and imagines their behind-the-scenes, day-to-day existence. The songs draw on the intense vibrancy of the performers’ arts and revel in the strange restrictions and freedoms to be discovered in the shadows of the Big Top. The music explores the boundaries between classical music and jazz, pairing a contemporary classical aesthetic with jazz influenced harmony, limping grooves and wild improvisation.
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Purchase
Perusal Score
Please note that this music is in copyright and it is illegal to copy or perform from the perusal score.
Performance History
17th Feb 2018 - Constella OperaBallet at West Kent College
26th Nov 2017 - Constella OperaBallet at Sadler's Wells
25th Nov 2017 - Constella OperaBallet at Sadler's Wells
4th July 2016 - Constella OperaBallet at Sadler's Wells
22nd Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at C Venues
21st Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at C Venues
20th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at C Venues
19th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at C Venues
18th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at C Venues
17th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at C Venues
8th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Grimeborn Opera Festival (Arcola Theatre)
7th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Grimeborn Opera Festival (Arcola Theatre)
6th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Grimeborn Opera Festival (Arcola Theatre)
5th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Grimeborn Opera Festival (Arcola Theatre)
30th July 2015 - Constella OperaBallet live on BBC Radio 3
7th March 2015 - Ensemble 212 at Good Sherherd-Faith Church, New York (USA)
24th Sept 2015 - Khymerikal at Blackheath Concert Halls
10th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Tête à Tête Opera Festival (Kings Place)
9th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Tête à Tête Opera Festival (Kings Place)
7th Aug 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at live on BBC Radio 3
6th July 2015 - Constella OperaBallet at Cockpit Theatre
21 Sept 2014 - Khymerikal at Lancaster Jazz Festival
14th May 2014 - Khymerikal at the RNCM
15th Feb 2014 - Manchester Uni Music Society at Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall
5th Nov 2013 - Khymerikal at Birmingham Conservatoire
17th June 2013 - Khymerikal at the RNCM
31st May 2013 - Soloists at Ludlow English Song Weekend
14th Jan 2013 - Khymerikal at Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall
13th July 2012 - Soloists 20x12 New Music Weekend, Southbank Centre
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