CREATIVE TEAM

The Alban Community Opera Creative Team

Composer: Tom Wiggall. We are particularly pleased to be working with Tom whose own musical interests, artistic vision and both composing and performing expertise make him ideal for this project. Tom has built up a substantial body of work, much of it involving theatrical and other collaborations with both professional and amateur musicians. This will be his first major opera commission and we are delighted to be able to give him this important opportunity at this stage in his career. Tom has said this about his approach to the commission:

"The main thrust of the Alban Community Opera in narrative terms is to present a religious story emerging from a secular perspective. Alban will be presented to the audience as an unexceptional citizen of the Roman outpost Verulamium (modern day St Albans). As the opera progresses, a series of twists of fate reveal to the audience, and to Alban himself, his capacity for belief and self-sacrifice, concluding with the extraordinary decision of an ordinary man. Much of the opera is concerned with the psychological impact of this process on Alban's family and, in addition, how Alban's actions play into the local political system in Verulamium.

These two focal lengths for the drama (the personal and the political) will be staged through a blend of intimate domestic drama and grand civic set pieces. The former will often be staged in the Alban household and the latter in the public fora of the town. The opera is designed to encourage engagement at many different levels of musical ability and, in large ensemble numbers, will involve many different kinds of music ranging from market cries, local folk music and baying mob contributions through to a Greek narrative chorus and high-concept reflective musical styles. These contrasting elements will be united by strong motivic character associations, vivid atmospheric identification of place and mood, and a direct and uncluttered musical language.

The Alban project has enormous scope and potential for using the Cathedral building dramatically by placing musicians and protagonists around the space, surrounding the audience with the drama. In addition, the secular approach to a religious story demands a robust and fresh musical response, moving away from the didactic oratorio tradition, and towards a more engaging and enlivening form of corporate music-making."

Librettist: John Mole has published many collections for both adults and children, the most recent of which are The Other Day and This is the Blackbird. He is currently Poet in Residence to the City of London. He has received the Eric Gregory and Cholmondeley Awards for his poetry, as well as the Signal Award for his contribution to poetry for younger readers. He has recorded a reading of his work for The Poetry Archive (www.poetryarchive.org) from which a CD is available.

Director: Beckie Mills studied at Central School of Speech and Drama and at Cambridge University. She is currently an Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she is working on 'The Taming of the Shrew' and Kneehigh's 'Don John'. Beckie's first experience of Opera came at the age of 11 when she appeared in 'Otello' at the Royal Opera House with Placido Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa. Her work as Director includes youth and community productions for the Almeida based on 'Marianne Dreams' and 'Cloud Nine'; several site-specific shows for Bristol Old Vic: 'Cabaret'/'Alice in Wonderland'/'Fear and Misery in the Third Reich' (Main House), 'Over the Edge' (Bristol Zoo Gardens), and 'The End of the World as We Know It' (Lightship John Sebastian). New writing projects include: 'Write Here Write Now' (Bristol Old Vic Studio), 'The Melancholy Hussar', adapted from Hardy's short story by Ben Musgrave (King's Head & Etcetera), and her own play 'Practice', which is currently being developed with the RSC.

Music Director: David Ireson was founder and director of the Hardynge Choir for its first 25 years. It was a group which started as an adult further education class and after 40 years is still flourishing. He also founded the Fayrfax Consort and has for 30 years directed the July festival, Musica Deo Sacra, in Tewkesbury Abbey. Since 1987 he has been music director of St Albans Chamber Opera with whom he has conducted a major production every year in the Abbey Theatre. He sings in the UK and abroad with the London group Vox Musica and has for many years been a Lay Clerk at St Albans Cathedral.