Chamber opera with bariton Lucia Lucas and Ragazze Quartet
The World’s Wife is based on an anthology of poems by Carol Ann Duffy and reflects on collective stories, historical events and myths, told from an altered, female perspective. Inspired by Duffy’s poems, composer Tom W. Green wrote a chamber opera for singer, string quartet and looping station.
About The World’s Wife
Throughout the opera, different female characters take the stage, both historical and mythological, ranging from the sexually awakened little-red cap to the motherly Queen Herod. By way of response, Green’s composition contains music from past female composers who were sometimes unduly ignored, such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn.
Ragazze Quartet and Dutch opera director Jorinde Keesmaat are for the first time creating a fully staged version of the opera. Keesmaat (known from a.o. Andriessen’s Anais Nin + Odysseus Women) is intrigued by the absence of the female voice which paradoxically speaks through Duffy’s poems.
While stating their individuality, the women in the poetry are at the same time trapped in a male narrative. Seeking to weave their own narrative, five female performers explore their historical and mythological predecessors. They are guided by the warm baritone singing of transgender opera singer Lucia Lucas, who has recognised and has responded to her inner voice unlike anyone else. Together, they embark on a journey which leads to a (re)discovery of a collective and individual, female voice.
No concerts or performances are scheduled
Reviews
The Stage
‘Lucas’ performance – vocally and theatrically – is never less than mesmerising.’
Theaterkrant
"The American transgender baritone Lucia Lucas is a formidable performer. Her presence fills the stage. Vocally, every note makes for a deeply felt experience and is given the right musical intensity. And the carefully thought-out interpretation is complemented to perfection by the Ragazze Quartet, which is fully integrated into the action – there is not a single music standard in sight throughout the performance."
The Guardian
‘..that rare thing nowadays, a totally successful music-theatre piece.’
Music OMH
‘The performances are eloquent and, at times, breathtaking; the performance has a powerful impact on the senses; the messages around women’s roles are necessary, topical and cogent..’
Times
‘..it is an intense theatrical experience, a physical unleashing of emotion and music.’
Volkskrant
“Baritone and natural force Lucia Lucas beautifully shapes the female anger in The World’s Wife. She is accompanied by the Ragazze Quartet in a staging full of elegant symbolism.”
iNews
"There’s something deliberately disorienting about a production in which the astonishing, fiercely virtuosic Ragazze Quartet refuse to sit docile behind music stands.."
Mafalda Oliveira, baritone saxophonist in Maat Saxophone Quartet, in Het Parool
"I was blown away by The World's Wife. It was the very first time I saw a trans singer on stage during a classical work. It touched me tremendously"
Characters in The World’s Wife
The Ragazze Quartet and several others shared which of the characters from The World’s Wife were their favorites. Watch Rosa Arnold’s video on Little Red Cap and all other videos via YouTube (Dutch spoken).
Credits
Composer
Librettist
Stage director
Baritone
Violin
Viola
Cello
Stage design
Costumes
Make-up & hair design
Dramaturgy
Visuals
Light
Sound
Stage manager
Production
Marketing
Co-production
Together with
Lucia Lucas – baritone
Lucia Lucas is an International Singer of primarily Opera, but also creates her own content through Music, Video, and Writing. She performs on the Biggest Opera House Stages in the world as well as art festivals and one-woman shows.
She most often performs in Germany and the US.
www.lucialucas.com
Photo: Nichon Glerum
Tom Green – composer
Tom Green is a British composer of music for theatre, dance and the concert hall. He comes from a background of mixed influences – his dad is an omnivorous jazz pianist and his mum is a choral singer. As a music-obsessed teenager playing electric guitar and falling off stages in rock bands, his curiosity in Beethoven was always competing with Radiohead and co. Although his interests and musical language has moved on since then, that same tension, between what could be described as the classical tradition and pop music, still remains.
www.tomgreencomposer.com
Foto: Nichon Glerum
Jorinde Keesmaat – stage director
Jorinde Keesmaat is a Dutch director of opera and staged classical concerts. In her immersive multidisciplinary work, Keesmaat plays with the relationship between spectator and actor / musician. In her projects, she explores the possibilities of an individual approach to the public. The conventional boundaries between classical concerts, opera and theatre are of little import in her work. Instead, cross-pollination and the styling and abstraction of art disciplines play a central role.
In addition to regular theatre and concert halls, her performances regularly take place in unusual locations. In creating settings where people are allowed to look at each other, Jorinde hopes to astonish and disconcert her audience. “In a chaotic and confused world, I want to create moments that quiet and endure, pushing the spectator’s buttons to guide them to a highly personal emotion place.”
www.jorindekeesmaat.nl
Foto: Wendelien Daan
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