Scottish Opera have commissioned a new, short opera from Paul Mealor entitled, 74 Degrees North for their 5:15, 2010 season.
The opera, to a libretto by Peter Davidson and an electroacoustic score by Pete Stollery is set in the arctic on the last day of the brief summer before the snows return and the temperatures plummet. A young Orcadian scientist is visiting the graves of Franklin’s 1840’s disastrous expedition. He is in awe of the landscape, inspired to study it in the footsteps of the Victorian explorer John Rae. Suddenly he realises he is being watched.
After a troubling encounter with a stranger, the scientist starts to reflect on his own perceptions of place as the opera develops into an impassioned dialogue and the young scientist’s own perception of northern places is changed forever.
PERFORMANCE DATES 2010:
Elphinstone Hall @ Aberdeen University, Aberdeen
Sat 15 May, 7.30pm
Sun 16 May, 3pm and 7.30pm
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Thu 20, Fri 21 & Sat 22 May, 7.30pm
Tickets available from the Traverse Theatre http://www.traverse.co.uk/ or 0131 2281401
Òran Mór, Glasgow
Tues 25, Wed 26 & Thu 27 May, 7.30pm
Tickets available from the Traverse Theatre http://www.traverse.co.uk/ or 0131 2281401
All tickets £15