The largest mainstage community opera in Glyndebourne’s history

SussexWorld

As Glyndebourne’s artistic director Stephen Langridge says, there is something very compelling about the metaphor of a solo voice becoming a chorus hundreds strong.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt,

00:04Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.

00:06Real pleasure this afternoon to speak to Stephen Langridge, who is the Artistic

00:10Director of Blindborn. Stephen, you have something truly

00:13fabulous coming up as part of a long tradition of

00:16community productions. This year it's Uprising

00:19and it's something that talks about, as the productions always do,

00:23talks about important things, doesn't it? We're touching on climate crisis

00:28and whether we can individually make a difference.

00:32Yeah, it's a big operatic response to probably the most urgent

00:38question of today, arguably, and I think that one of the things

00:43that opera is actually good at is dealing with big

00:48subjects and this is a big opera.

00:54We're talking about, I think, about 140 people from the community joining

00:59together with professionals in the orchestra pit and

01:04singers on stage, so it's a big musical theatrical resource

01:10to explore this sometimes very frightening

01:14topic and hopefully find some optimism as well.

01:17And a question at the heart of it is whether individually we can make a

01:20difference, but it's a lovely metaphor you're

01:23suggesting with the opera itself, how the solo voice

01:26becomes the chorus. There is a strength in togetherness, isn't there?

01:31Exactly, and Jonathan Dove's initial thought was

01:35how could a song started by one person become

01:39a chorus for hundreds and how do you express that, what does that mean? I mean

01:44that has an intellectual metaphor of one person starts and everyone

01:50joins in, but it has an emotional one as well and

01:52there's something about the sound of over a hundred people singing

01:58which is already incredibly stirring and when it's in the context of this

02:03epic story as well it really does, it goes to the brain and to the heart.

02:09And you were saying the experience of taking part in this,

02:12who knows what it could lead to down the line

02:16for the individuals concerned? And we know that a number of individuals who've

02:20been involved in community and youth operas over the

02:23last 30 or more years at Glyndebourne are still bobbling around

02:27and some of them have gone on to great things

02:29and surprising things, so yeah we don't know

02:32what people will take from the experience of participating in this.

02:37It's a big moment, some people it just might be a great memory,

02:41other people might go on and decide that they're going to engage in

02:44climate activism, who knows. Absolutely, but the other side of the coin is just

02:49how much Glyndebourne gains from this, you're talking about the passionate

02:52engagement of the whole of the organisation in this, the investment in

02:57time and energy. It's a two-way street for sure, that

03:03as a professional opera company that it's,

03:06it keeps us connected with our local community

03:11and that, you know, it's a cliche but maybe it's a good one given what we're

03:15talking about, you know, trees only stand up

03:18tall and high if they've got deep roots and I think that

03:22Glyndebourne wants to be a local international

03:25opera house and this kind of work really helps us

03:29and also to be frank reminds us how lucky we are to be working in this

03:35wonderful art form as we see other people coming into it

03:38with their enthusiasm and passion as well,

03:40gives us a lot. Fantastic, well it sounds superb,

03:44it's uprising, it's the end of February, very early in March, Stephen, really

03:49lovely to speak to you and congratulations on it happening.

03:52Thank you. Thank you.

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