INFORMATION

Alban is a two act community opera involving over 150 performers which has been commissioned by the St. Albans Cathedral Music Trust. It will be given five performances (including a matinee) in St. Albans Cathedral in May 2009, bringing together a wealth of local talent. Singers, actors, dancers and musicians of all ages drawn principally, though not exclusively, from parish and school choirs across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire will join a core of experienced professional performers. Like all large-scale community ventures it will offer many their first experience of taking part in a professionally-staged theatrical production.

This exciting project will build on the Music Trust’s previous success in staging Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, a major community undertaking which made imaginative use of the cathedral’s setting. Alban will be even more immediate as it has been composed with this particular building in mind. From the start it has been a site-specific enterprise with composer Tom Wiggall and librettist John Mole taking into consideration all the possibilities for music and movement, drama and ritual offered by the cathedral’s architectural design.

Composer and librettist have imagined the last week of Alban’s life – a family man, a successful doctor with a wife and two young children, and the opera will be staged through a combination of intimate domestic drama, and events in the public arena - the former exploring the psychological impact on Alban’s family of his new-found capacity for Christian belief, and the latter dramatising the inevitable consequence of his decision to sacrifice himself in place of the priest to whom he has offered sanctuary.

Alban has been designed to encourage engagement at all levels of musical ability and it involves many different kinds of music ranging from market cries and exclamatory mob interventions through to a closing hymn in which the audience joins with the performers.

The Cathedral Music Trust is working to ensure that Alban will be a high profile event, a celebration of the city’s patron saint and a moving experience for everyone involved, whether as a participant or as a member of the audience.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

"I've always felt I'd known Alban, but only in the shadows - tonight he stepped out into the light".

So said a cathedral warden at the launch of the opera in June. Three singers sang arias from the piece and it was the last one, the farewell between Alban and his wife, that truly moved many of the audience. We knew then that the music (Tom Wiggall) and the words (John Mole) were going to create a wonderful run of performances in May next year. It was a very exciting evening seeing this opera come to life.

Since June the project has not stood still. We are still actively fund-raising as the budget has necessarily increased, mainly for two vital reasons - we decided that we must have raised seating so that our audience will see all the action, and want ensure that that costumes are properly funded because we have been joined by a BAFTA award winning costume designer. This is exciting news and there are a lot of costumes!

Following the launch we were delighted to receive offers of help and support from so many people - for stewarding, sewing, catering, leaflet distribution, design, etc., and of course wanting to sing and take part! Our web site is in the process of development and can be found at www.albanopera.org.uk so do have a look at that and perhaps think about how you might like to be involved. You will be very welcome.

To join up to SING please go to the Royal School of Church Music website www.rscm-stalbans.co.uk and look at the Alban Community Opera Project where you can register, or contact me at the number below. If you haven't yet signed up to sing we need 100 in the chorus and there is still room - so come along yourself for a once in a lifetime experience or get together with friends or colleagues as a group.

If I can answer any questions or help in any way please do give me a ring on 01582 832312 or e-mail me.

With every good wish,

Hazel Ireson, Project Manager