Viva Lewes Issue #134 November 2017

ON THIS MONTH: OPERA
Belongings
Music and migration at Glyndebourne
Photo by Sam Stephenson
Walking into the staff café at Glyndebourne, I find
myself surrounded by dozens of excited children
who are taking a break from rehearsing a new opera.
Belongings, composed by Lewis Murphy with
words by Laura Attridge, compares the lives of
World War 2 evacuees with present-day refugees
fleeing war zones. As the youngsters return to the
stage, Lewis sits down with a coffee. I ask him if
there’s a moral to the story. “If there is a moral,
it's about learning from history”, he tells me. “It's
about openness and human connection. As well
as entertaining the audience, I'm hoping we can
make them ask questions of themselves.”
Glasgow-born Lewis has been Glyndebourne’s
Young Composer in Residence since 2015, before
which, he admits, “opera was quite new to me”.
He’s clearly a fast learner. As well as composing
Belongings, he’s subsequently been commissioned
with librettist Laura to write for Scottish Opera.
Should we expect more music from the Attridge
and Murphy partnership? “Whether we actually
brand it as that, who knows. But in terms of setting
ourselves up and promoting ourselves as creators
of new opera, it’s something we are interested in.
We’ve reached a point now where we feel comfortable
working together.”
This type of collaborative approach runs throughout
Belongings. “Lucy Bradley, our director, was
involved from the very beginning of the project,
talking with me and the librettist about the story
and trying to structure the narrative of the whole
piece. And Lee Reynolds, our conductor, has also
been heavily involved.”
Earlier this year, culture and arts project The
Complete Freedom of Truth arranged for all four
members of the creative team to visit the Italian
town of Sarteano and meet young people in a refugee
community. Lucy encouraged the community
to perform an improvised drama that represented
‘home’. “It was really heart-warming, touching
and very humbling for us to see what these guys
missed”, Lewis says. “It was the first time we’d
actually had direct contact with people who’d been
through that situation.”
Insight from the trip has been passed on to the
65 members of Glyndebourne Youth Opera, aged
between 9 and 19, who are singing alongside three
professional singers: Rodney Earl Clarke, Leslie
Davis and Nardus Williams. “The production taking
shape here looks incredible, so I’m really excited
to see what happens.” There’s a special show
for schools followed by one public performance
– but what next? “I would love to get it performed
again”, Lewis says. “I think it is still a very relevant
piece for our times. Themes of displacement and
people being thrown into a new environment;
these have happened throughout history and will
probably continue to happen. As soon as you create
conflict, people have to move.” Mark Bridge
Belongings will be performed at Glyndebourne on
Saturday 11th November. Tickets available from
01273 815000 / glyndebourne.com
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