OPERA


Hildegard (2002 - 2006)
for soprano and baritone soloists, large ensemble, chorus and electronics

Eb clarinet (doubling Bb and bass), Bb clarinet (doubling A and bass), oboe, cor anglais (doubling oboe 2), bassoon (doubling contra), trumpet, trombone (doubling alto trombone), tuba, viola, keyboard, 6 percussion

Duration: 120 minutes
Commissioned by Percussion Group the Hague, New London Chamber Choir and Champ d'Action

First performance of semi-staged 2005 version: 11 May 2005, Norwich Cathedral
Sarah Leonard, Omar Ebrahim
Critical Band, Percussion Group the Hague, New London Chamber Choir
Sound Intermedia
Conductor: Jonathan Stockhammer, Assistant conductor: David Lawrence,
Lighting Designer: Jo Joelson, Director: James Wood

Selected Press Comments from Hildegard 2005 UK Tour

'A virtuoso percussionist and electro-acoustician, James wood has created a dazzling parallel electronic sound world which spirals and zig-zags around the listener. Not surprisingly, too, the percussion writing is rich and vivid.'

'This uncompromising, multi-layered score is as far removed from, say, the gleaming vacuity of Lorin Maazel's 1984 - this month's other new opera - as you can get. If some came expecting to hear nuns in habits singing Hildegard's plainchant unadulterated, they will have been sweetly, or rudely, challenged. But there was enthusiastic applause from the capacity audience and many cheers, especially for the Devil.'

Fiona Maddocks, The Evening Standard, 16 May 2005


'... a chorus that attacked you from front, side and rear (the brilliantly drilled New London Chamber Choir), six frenetic drummers (Percussion Group The Hague) and an instrumental ensemble (the Critical Band) whose jagged fanfares were bounced electronically round the nave like aural boomerangs - well, it was all rather ear-popping and thrilling.'

'Wood's music, superbly conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer, owes a fair bit to Xenakis and Messiaen, notably in its ecstatic choral refrains, and virtually nothing to Hildegard's own chants. But it has tremendous drama too, especially when the performers spread around the cathedral and weave dozens of motifs into jangling cacophony. What it deserves is a proper staging.'

Richard Morrison, The Times, 13 May 2005


'Overall a brilliant evening...The work was a triumph, and it was wonderful to see the beautiful old Benedictine Abbey with its echoes of Elgar approving. The final effect of the opera was the simplest, and most striking. As darkness fell during the performance the luminous stained glass of the mighty West Window darkened. With Jonathan Stockhammer conducting the closing pages of James Wood's wonderful score (and parallels with Parsifal are not over the top), external lighting illuminated the stained glass. Once again we saw that Art and Truth will always triumph over the everyday, the bland and the unadventurous.'

On an Overgrown Path, 12 May 2005

programme note (2005) (72k)

synopsis (2005) (116k)

text (2005) (2.4Mb)


programme note + synopsis (Maastricht 2006) (80k)

text (Maastricht 2006) (376k)

Hildegard in Salisbury Cathedral (May 31, 2005)

more pictures


Gulliver (2011 - 2014)

Opera in four Parts
after Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels

Music by James Wood
Libretto by Paul Griffiths

for baritone soloist
vocal sextet
(high soprano, mezzo-soprano, countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass)
ensemble of fifteen players
(flute, oboe, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon/contra, horn, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, mandolin, guitar, harp, piano/harmonium, percussion)

Duration: 95 minutes
Jointly commissioned by Insomnio (with funds from De Stichting De Vrede van Utrecht and the Gemeente Utrecht) and Eduard Van Beinum Fonds


Orchestra | Large Ensemble | Chorus and Ensemble

Chamber | Instrumental | Unaccompanied Voices

Voices and Electronics | Voice and Ensemble | Voice and Percussion

Percussion Ensemble | Solo Percussion

Chronological List of Works

Music Store

Availability

News

Programme notes [pdf]


JWE-Index

Homepage