Viking city embraces a welcome Invader

When an Irish composer with stacks of choral works to his credit and an enviable international reputation announces he is composing his first opera, it generates a wave of interest that reaches beyond the confines of new music cognoscenti.

The Invader, a new opera by Eric Sweeney will be premiered at the Theatre Royal, Waterford later this month with the composer himself in the pit directing a ten-piece orchestra and a company of 11 singers.

With a libretto by poet, Mark Roper, based on Euripides’ Greek tragedy, The Bacchae, the new opera will be brought to stage by Theatre Royal Productions. With substantial funding from the Arts Council and Waterford City Council, the event forms part of the Waterford 1100 festivities, celebrating the founding of the medieval Viking settlement.

I dropped into Central Hall as director Ben Barnes was rehearsing baritone, Joe Corbett and soprano Natasha Jouhl in a duet. For those of us wary of the avant garde tag, I can vouch the music I heard was rather lovely, more Britten than Birtwhistle. In terms of artistic forces, there is a Greek chorus of seven women with the other two main roles played by Armenian bass, Telman Guzhevsky and Irish mezzo, Alison Browner. Was it the opportunity to put her own stamp on a brand new role that attracted her, I asked Browner. “Yes, partly, but mainly I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Eric, my harmony teacher at DIT years ago,” she said.

“There will be loads of sex and violence but no horned helmets,” said Sweeney. Retirement from an academic career has boosted his prolific output and he is clearly relishing the rehearsal process.

So how does The Invader tie in to the theme of Waterford 1100, I asked librettist Mark Roper. “In a narrow sense, there is the allusion to the invasion of a city but in a wider sense it has to do with the right way to govern a city. If the walls are too thick, as in the over protective King, you can end up with a nanny state.”

The matter of city governance is a hot topic as Phil Hogan’s decree to abolish city councils is not going down well in Waterford.

While new works are rare, Waterford hasn’t been an entirely opera-free zone. Earlier this year, a new opera, Bust, by Ben Hanlon, premiered at Garter Lane Theatre. Lily’s Labyrinth, a children’s opera by Marian Ingoldsby, was also well received here. Musical theatre is a major part of the history of the Theatre Royal. Waterford’s internationally renowned light opera festival ran for five decades, coming to an end only recently in 2012. Stalwart of Cork Opera House, Bryan Flynn first came to the attention of the Irish theatre world when his first original musical drama Pentimenti premiered here in 1998. While Wexford might have cornered the market in unearthing buried treasures, the Waterford musical mill hasn’t been slack in minting new pieces.

Theatre Royal Waterford, May 22, 23, 24; Wexford Opera House, May 30