{"id":120,"date":"2015-02-10T14:44:13","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T14:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickysinger.com\/new\/?page_id=120"},"modified":"2016-05-02T14:26:11","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T14:26:11","slug":"opera","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nickysinger.com\/new\/opera\/","title":{"rendered":"Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert Winslade Anderson as Mordec with the Knight Crew Chorus (photo: David Illman)<\/div>\n

I<\/span>n March 2010 Glyndebourne commissioned Nicky to re-write Knight Crew<\/em><\/a> as an opera \u2013 with music by Julian Philips and John Fulljames directing. It was staged with a cast of six professionals and a chorus of 50 young people. It was Glyndebourne\u2019s first ever commission from a teen novel.<\/p>\n

It is, as Michael Church in his 4* review in the Independent said:<\/p>\n

\u2026the story of King Arthur updated to a twenty-first century urban wasteland, courtesy of a libretto by Nicky Singer who was inspired by an encounter with a typically deprived and \u2018antisocial\u2019 youth on a Holloway estate: her realisation that \u2018respect\u2019 was simply a modern version of medieval knightly honour became the pivotal idea for a plot which translates Arthurian symbolism into terms of turf wars and street-gang rituals.
\nThe plot turns on teenage love and valour against the backdrop of permanent war with a neighbouring gang. But it also has an other-worldly dimension represented by a bag-lady with the vision of a seer, whose senseless murder sets in train a series of mystical events which test the moral mettle of all concerned. With a knife which kills without getting blood on itself, and with a book which foretells the future, we are in the sort of magical territory which Harry Potter readers take for granted; what lifts this drama onto a different plane is the Puccinian intensity with which the characters are impelled to destroy each other and\/or themselves, as events progress towards their mysterious denouement. One of the most poignant scenes has strong echoes of the Damilola Taylor tragedy.
\nFor a \u2018community\u2019 opera this is an extraordinarily accomplished piece of work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a clip:<\/p>\n