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George Humphreys

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Mark Le Brocq

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In Parenthesis

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Summer 2016World premièreMusic by Iain BellLibretto by David Antrobus and Emma Jenkins(after David Jones)As we mark 70 years of WNO it is a time to look forw...

Summer 2016 | In Parenthesis trailer

Writing & composing

Meet composer Iain Bell and trace his composition journey for this major new operatic work.
Explore the episode: http://www.inparenthesis.org.uk

In Parenthesis | Episode Two

This major new opera follows Private John Ball and his comrades as they are posted to the Somme.

As we mark 70 years of WNO it is a time to look forward. What better way to do this than with a world première of a major new opera? In Parenthesis is young British composer Iain Bell’s adaptation of the epic poem by Welsh poet, writer and artist David Jones. 

Private John Ball and his comrades in the Royal Welch Fusiliers are posted to the Somme. In Mametz Wood they enter a strange realm – outside of time, dream-like but deadly. Rather than simply reporting the horrors of the Somme, In Parenthesis dares to offer hope. Even here amongst the destruction, a fragile flowering of regeneration and re-birth can be found.

Bell’s beautiful score combines traditional Welsh song with moments of other-worldliness, terror, humour and transcendence. David Pountney’s period production is both an evocation and a commemoration of the events of the Somme.

Opera is a living, breathing art form. But for it to keep on growing and evolving, we need you to join us for what we believe is an important major new work. To find out more about In Parenthesis and the original epic poem on which it is based, please visit our dedicated website inparenthesis.org.uk

In Parenthesis was streamed on The Opera Platform at 7pm 1 July 2016.

In Parenthesis by Bell, Iain, From (2016/2016), Directed by David Pountney,, Conductor Carlo Rizzi, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, United Kingdom

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