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Home , Curlew River, Iestyn Davies, Mark Stone (baritone), Oslo (play), The Ferryman (play), William Plomer

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Thursday–Saturday Evenings, October 30–November 1, 2014, at 7:30

Curlew River (U.S. premiere production) Music by Libretto by after Ju¯ro¯ Motomasa

Ian Bostridge , Madwoman Jeremy White , Abbot Neal Davies , The Traveller , Ian Osborne , Spirit of the Boy Leif Pedersen, Anders Pedersen , Acolytes Martin Fitzpatrick , Music Director Britten Sinfonia Voices

Netia Jones , Direction, Design, Costume, Video Ian Scott , Lighting Design

Curlew River is approximately one hour and 15 minutes long and will be performed without intermission.

Please join us for a White Light Lounge immediately following the performances on Thursday and Friday.

A co-production between the , , for the Performing Arts, Carolina Performing Arts, and Cal Performances Berkeley

The White Light Festival is sponsored by Time Warner Inc. These performances are made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.

Synod House, Please make certain all your electronic devices The Cathedral of St. John the Divine are switched off. WhiteLightFestival.org 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 2

Additional support is provided by The Fan Fox and Upcoming White Light Festival Events: Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc. Tuesday, November 4, at 7:30 in Alice Tully Hall Endowment support is provided by the American Mavis Staples Express Cultural Preservation Fund. One True Vine

MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center. Sunday, November 9, at 5:00 in Avery Fisher Hall Cathedrals of Sound Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center. Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig Riccardo Chailly , Conductor United Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln BACH : Orchestral Suite No. 4 Center. BRUCKNER : Symphony No. 7 Pre-concert lecture by Scott Burnham at 3:45 in the WABC-TV is the Official Broadcast Partner of H. Kaplan Penthouse Lincoln Center. Tuesday, November 11, at 7:30 in Alice Tully Hall William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of Winterreise (New York premiere) Lincoln Center. William Kentridge , Concept and Video Matthias Goerne , Artist Catering is provided by Zabar’s and Markus Hinterhäuser , Piano Zabars.com. SCHUBERT: Winterreise Pre-concert discussion with Christopher H. Gibbs at 6:15 in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse

For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit WhiteLightFestival.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info Request Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about pro - gram cancellations or to request a White Light Festival brochure.

Visit WhiteLightFestival.org for more information relating to the Festival’s programs.

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We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the performers and your fellow audience members. In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 3

Note from the Director by Netia Jones

Clear as a sky without a cloud May be a mother’s mind, But darker than a starless night With not one gleam, not one, No gleam to show the way. —William Plomer, Curlew River after J u¯ro¯ Motomasa

Ideas of darkness and light, obscurity and illumination are at the heart of Benjamin Britten and William Plomer’s extraordinary “parable for church performance,” Curlew River . The drawing together of Japanese theater and the English medieval mystery play creates an entirely unique and luminous work, quite unlike any other. Here, the concept of light takes separate forms: natural light—the physical manifestation of light or absence of it— metaphysical radiance or divine light, and spiritual revelation or enlightenment. The inter - play between darkness and light is both literal and metaphorical, at once narrative and abstract—daylight and night, seeing and not seeing, clarity and confusion.

Aspects of both ancient Oriental and English medieval theater are reflected in every part of the piece: stillness, ritual, visual richness, and gestural economy. Here human suffering is represented not literally, but with a degree of abstraction that reveals a deeper truth. Suffering is pared down to its most extreme expression—a mother made mad with grief for her lost son. In the traditions of Noh theater, as described by Zeami Motokiyo, the 14th- century Noh master, madness is “a highly spiritual state accompanied by a separation from the self.” Zeami elucidates: “When they are bereaved mothers, the heroines are repre - sented as abnormally sensitive and particularly susceptible to their surroundings and fall into fits of poetic exaltation which expresses itself by frenzied gestures. When their lost ones are found, their temporary madness leaves them.” In Curlew River , the lucidity that follows the resolution of the drama is translated into the medieval idea of spiritual enlightenment— the darkness of madness and confusion recedes into the clarity of understanding, and, perhaps, redemption.

“There is nothing specifically Japanese left in the parable that William Plomer and I have written,” asserted Britten. But the features that so attracted him to the Noh performances that he witnessed—“the touching story, the economy of style, the intense slowness of the action, the marvelous skill and control of the performers, the beautiful costumes, the mixture of chanting, speech and singing which, with the instruments, made up the strange music”—are fundamental to Curlew River . Contrast and opposition, opacity and trans - parency are woven through the libretto, and create a slow, subtle, but intense accumu - lation of tension. The blend of ritual and spontaneity of Noh theater, combined with the communal nature of enactment of the medieval mystery makes for a work which is both removed and extremely intimate. Here medieval concepts of illumination and spiritual enlightenment are presented in humane terms, both universal and heartbreakingly indi - vidual, in music of profound beauty and the deepest expressiveness.

—Copyright © 2014 by Netia Jones

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Synopsis by Christopher Cook

The parable of Curlew River is told by a quartet of characters who, in the tradition of Noh theater, are all men: the Abbot, who is the narrator, the Ferryman, the Traveller, and the Madwoman. Eight pilgrims form the chorus. The action takes place in a church by a river in the Fenlands in the early medieval period.

Curlew River opens with the Abbot and his monks processing into the center of the church singing the hymn “Te lucis ante terminum.” The abbot, his monks, and the musicians take their places, and at a cue from the organ the Abbot tells his congregation of a time not long ago when “a sign was given of God’s grace…in our reedy Fens…[where] the Curlew River runs.” The monks who are to play the Ferryman, the Traveller, and the Madwoman are cer - emonially dressed in their robes, the pilgrims take their places, and the story begins.

The Traveller and the Madwoman have come to cross the river that “flows between two realms, on this side the land of the West, on the other the Eastern Fens.” The Madwoman, who is clearly nobly born, has journeyed from the Black Mountains in search of her child, who was abducted 12 months previously. The Ferryman seems unwilling to take her across the water and they argue. However, the Traveller and the pilgrims per - suade him to give her passage.

As they begin their crossing, the Ferryman stops poling his boat. “Today,” he tells his passengers, “is an important day, the people are assembling in memory of a sad event.” He continues poling. One year ago, a young boy arrived in the area with a vicious master who had kidnapped him from his home near the Black Mountains. The boy was badly beaten by this master and then abandoned by the river. Local people cared for the sick child, who, clearly dying, made a last request. “Please bury me here, by the path to this chapel. Then, if travellers from my dear country pass this way, their shadows will fall on my grave, and plant a yew tree in memory of me.” For the people who live along the river the boy’s grave is sacred, “…some special grace is there, to heal the sick in body and in soul.”

All now understand the boy who died is the son for whom the Madwoman is searching. “O Curlew River, cruel Curlew, where all my hope is swept away.” During the crossing, the Ferryman tries to console her. “Your sad search is ended.” And he and the Pilgrims lead the grief-stricken mother to her son’s tomb.

As all pray the voice of the dead boy suddenly echoes their chant, “Custodes hominum psallimus Angelos.” Alone now, the mother sees the spirit of her son. “Go your way in peace, mother. The dead shall rise again and in that blessed day we shall meet in heaven.” Freed from her grief and with her wits restored, the Mother kneels in a prayer that ends with a joyous emblematic “Amen,” the final note of which resolves into a long- delayed unison with the full cast—a signal of her return and acceptance.

The actors in the drama are disrobed and as monks now hail “a sign of God’s grace.” “In hope, in peace, ends our mystery,” intones the Abbot, and the company processes away from the center of the church once again singing the hymn “Te lucis ante terminum.”

—Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Cook. Reprinted with permission. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 5

Note on the Program More significantly, both and Curlew River look to cultures by Christopher Cook that are either at the edge of the Western Curlew River (1964) tradition or outside it: to Rome when it was BENJAMIN BRITTEN ruled by kings and to medieval Japan. Yet Born November 22, 1913, in Lowestoft, both set their stories within the dominant England Western tradition of Christianity. If Britten Died December 4, 1976, in Aldeburgh, intends to revise our notion of what consti - England tutes music drama in both of these works, he is also, perhaps, a child of his time; an Approximate length: 75 minutes artist who, for all his deep curiosity about other cultures, was grounded in the tradi - A virtuous wife raped by the vicious son of tion set in train by the Enlightenment, that a Roman tyrant; a Japanese mother, mad - West was probably best. However, neither dened by grief perhaps, in search of her The Rape of Lucretia nor Curlew River abducted son. How much can The Rape of attempts to synthesize the European past Lucretia and Curlew River have in com - and present or East and West; both are mon? For a start there’s a span of 18 years simultaneously and separately present in between the first performances of each each work and are somehow brought work, during which time Benjamin Britten’s together within the performance itself. interests moved in different directions. Indeed, “performance” may be said to act Then The Rape of Lucretia is described as as a bridge between these two worlds. So an , while Curlew River was subtitled the principal action of the church parable “A Parable for Church Performance.” It’s has the Madwoman and the Traveller being true that both works tell their tales within a ferried across the Curlew River, while in specifically Christian framework, with the the , Tarquinius must ride man and woman of the chorus in Lucretia from his army camp outside Rome into the struggling to relate her rape and eventual heart of the city to ravish Lucretia. suicide to Christian ideas about suffering and redemption, and the history of the Britten was always alert to creative worlds Madwoman in Curlew River performed by beyond his native shores. As a young man a cast of medieval monks in a work that excited by the music of Mahler he had begins and ends with plainchant. hoped to study with Alban Berg in Vienna. His journey to America in 1939 may have But look and listen again. The Rape of been largely for personal and political rea - Lucretia was composed hot on the heels of sons, but he evidently relished the possibil - the triumph of in 1945, while ity of becoming a part of a different musical Curlew River was first performed in 1964, culture. Indeed, it was in the U.S. that he four years after A Midsummer Night’s first encountered the music of the game - Dream . And both would seem to anticipate lan, which would become such a distinct that late masterpiece . accent in his own music after a holiday to What all three works share is a desire to Bali in 1956. rethink both the form and, perhaps, the function of music drama after the com - In February of that year Britten, together poser had demonstrated (in Peter Grimes , with his partner , had been , , and The Turn of invited to perform in Tokyo by the the Screw ) his mastery of larger-scale Japanese broadcaster NHK and the British works which sit relatively comfortably Council. Up to this point the composer’s within the tradition of European opera. relationship with Japan had not been a

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happy one. In 1940, at the age of 26, he the drama like a great Greek tragedy cou - and five other European composers pled with the…universality of the story is (including and Jacques something which every Western artist can Ibert) had been invited to write a piece cel - learn from.” ebrating the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese empire. Britten’s Here was a story that stretched out from its resulting work—Sinfonia Requiem— roots in a traditional form of Japanese the - composed in memory of his parents, was ater to appeal to an English composer in unacceptable to the Japanese. It was, a search of creative bridges between his own court official told him, unsuitably Christian cultural patrimony and its “other.” And it and too “gloomy” to celebrate the birthday doesn’t require much effort to see this fas - of a dynasty. cination between the self and the other as the central motif of Britten’s own personal Matters were much improved in 1956. life as well as that of his : the homosex - Britten and Pears gave a recital that ual in a society where it was a criminal included the Seven Sonnets of Michel an- offense for almost all of his adult life and a gelo together with the composer’s arrange - man overwhelmingly attracted to boys who ments of British folk songs. Nine days later was thus imprisoned in his own chastity. Britten conducted the NHK Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Les illumina - Noh is not the most yielding of theatrical tions , with Pears as the soloist, and, for the forms for a Western audience; indeed, first time in Japan, the . many Japanese have difficulties with this form of drama, which can trace its roots In the meantime the two men were steep - back to the 14th century. And although ing themselves in traditional Japanese cul - music and dance play a central role in Noh ture, with recitals of traditional geisha and its starting point is a text—albeit in a singing, visits to kabuki and Noh theater, Japanese that is not easily understood with - and a performance of gagaku , Japanese out study—it would be wrong to equate court music. On February 11, the com - Noh with Western opera. It makes poser seems to have experienced some - demands on actors and audiences that are a thing of an epiphany at a performance of great deal more challenging than an evening the Noh play Sumidagawa . So moved was spent in the company of Mozart, Verdi, he by the story of the Madwoman who Wagner, or Berg. An actor sitting still and travelled the land in search of a son who silent on stage for 90 minutes is a challenge had been abducted a year before that he for both the performer and those who are asked to see the play again on the day that watching. Noh is a kind of ritual. As Donald he was to leave Japan. Keene, a historian of Japanese theater has written, “the purpose of Noh is not to divert Two years later, Britten reflected on what on the surface but to move profoundly and he had seen that day in a talk for NHK. “I ultimately to transcend the particular and count [the performance of Sumidagawa ] touch the very springs of human emotion.” among the greatest theatrical experiences Character and action are scarcely present of my life. Of course it was strange to start on the Noh stage, which, as another com - with, the language and especially the curi - mentator reminds us, is “a sacred space ous kind of chanting used. But we were where the meeting of our world with the fortunate in having an excellent literal other dimension is represented.” translation of the poem and we soon became accustomed to the haunting The ritual element in Noh undoubtedly sounds. The deep solemnity and selfless - would have appealed to Britten. The chant - ness of the acting, the perfect shaping of ing chorus, the actors wearing their 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 7

all-important masks, and the onstage musi - of the dead child actually appears, and cians—just four of them—a flutist and three when the mother and the chorus pray for drummers. He was also lucky in the partic - him they use the words of a Buddhist ular play that he saw performed by the prayer. At this stage the work was called Kanze school of Noh. It belongs to a group Sumida River . of plays called kyojo mono (drama of mad - women). Generally these stories have a It seems likely that Britten and Pears, who happy ending, with the lost child or the van - was to create the role of the ished husband or lover eventually restored Madwoman, were anxious that they might to the woman, who then recovers her san - be creating a Western pastiche of a ity. Sumidagawa is different in that the son Japanese Noh play. So they dropped the is already dead. At the end the Madwoman Japanese names, and miyakodori —the can only hear his voice and see his spirit. Japanese word for gulls—became curlews, Britten must have been as much moved by giving the work its final title. It’s at this the death of innocence—an abiding theme point that the specifically Christian frame - in his work—as he was by the sorrowing work is created, with the play becoming a mother in what is sometimes called a parable to be performed in a medieval drama of madness— monoguruinoh . church in East Anglia by an abbot and his monks in order to instruct their congrega - It seems likely that on his return to Europe, tion. So the piece begins with the plain - Britten shared his excitement about what song hymn “Te lucis ante terminum,” and he had seen with the poet William Plomer, “from it the whole piece may be said to who would write the libretto for what have grown,” as Britten indicated in the became Curlew River . But two years later preface to the published score. in 1958, it was still an “idea” rather than a definite project, as a letter from the com - As drama, Curlew River would seem to poser to Plomer makes clear. “The have distanced itself now from its Noh ori - Sumidagawa doesn’t come into any imme - gins. In Noh only the protagonist wears a diate plans. I’d rather put it to the back of mask but in Curlew River , the Ferryman and my mind. But any time that you feel that the Traveller are also masked; in this church you’d like to talk about it, it can be brought parable the characters “act” their emotions forth again. It is something that I am deeply and are rarely static as in Noh; and while the interested in and that I am determined to chorus still treats us to the kind of mono - do sometime. Isn’t it a curiously moving phonic singing that is an essential part of and disturbing story?” Noh drama, they are accompanied by seven musicians rather than four, and who pro - Plomer did want to talk about it and, more duce a more highly colored sound than the importantly, to start writing. So by the end Japanese hayashi ensemble. of the summer of 1958, there was a draft libretto. Daisaku Mukai, who has studied However, when you listen to Curlew River , this first draft, points out that the work is a you hear unmistakable echoes of the music long way from its final form at this stage, that Britten heard in Japan in 1956, though being an English-language version of the always wonderfully bent to his own creative original play. And it’s still very Japanese, purposes. The very particular use of the with Japanese place names retained and chamber organ and the gradually accelerat - the story beginning with the Ferryman ing tremolando of the drums seem to come rather than the entry of the monks and from gagaku , the Japanese court music their formal robing prior to the beginning of which he had heard in Tokyo. And it was in the drama proper. As for the end, the spirit the Japanese capital that Britten acquired

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his own sho, a kind of mouth organ used in Britten’s work and its meanings. Through gagaku . The sho has 17 bamboo pipes and the heart of this Parable for Church in court music it plays complex chords. Performance runs a river that must be Britten seems to have adapted what he crossed, Curlew River , a frontier between heard on the sho to be played on the cham - “two kingdoms,” as the Ferryman tells us. ber organ in Curlew River . “On this side the Land of the West, on the other, the Eastern Fens.” East Anglia cer - As Daisaku Mukai has suggested, tainly, but also it’s the Japanese other, life and death too, darkness and light, despair heterophony characterizes the musical and hope…all these things are written into language of Curlew River [and] is also the monks’ drama. And when we are common to Japanese traditional music— almost at the end, as the chorus chant we hear this in the entrance of the Abbot “Custodes hominum psallimus Angelos,” after the prelude. In this entry music the the hymn for Vespers for the feast of the opening plainchant theme is played in guardian angels, the stately progressing unison by all the instruments but each chords sound strikingly Japanese, while line is slightly delayed to create a kind of the solo flute, representing the soaring echo-like effect suitable for the visionary curlew, belongs to the English Fens. East nature of the piece. and West, other and self, are held in bal - ance in the moment of performance. Whereas other composers might have writ - ten these things into their score as so many —Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Cook. exotic calling cards, they are intrinsic to Re-printed with permission.

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Curlew River BENJAMIN BRITTEN Libretto by William Plomer after J u¯r o¯ Motomasa

—Translations from the Latin by John Mason Neale

The scene is set in a church by a Fenland river in early medieval times.

(The Abbot and his company of Monks, Acolytes, and Instrumentalists walk, singing in procession to the acting area.)

Abbot, Monks, Acolytes, and Instrumentalists Te lucis ante terminum, To thee before the close of day, Rerum Creator, poscimus, creator of the world, we pray Ut pro tua clementia, that, with thy wonted favor, thou Sis praesul et custodia. wouldst be our guard and keeper now.

Procul recedant somnia, From all ill dreams defend our sight, Et noctium phantasmata: from fears and terrors of the night; Hostemque nostrum comprime, withhold from us our ghostly foe, Ne polluantur corpora. that spot of sin we may not know.

Praesta, Pater piissime, O Father, that we ask be done, Patrique compar Unice, through Jesus Christ, thine only Son, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, who, with the Holy Ghost and thee, Regnans per omne saeculum. doth live and reign eternally.

Amen. Amen.

(The Abbot comes forward to address the congregation.)

Abbot Good souls, I would have you know The Brothers have come today To show you a mystery: How in sad mischance A sign was given of God’s grace.

Monks A sign of God’s grace.

Abbot Not far away Where, in our reedy Fens, The Curlew River runs, Not long ago, Amid souls akin to you, A sign was given of God’s grace.

Monks A sign of God’s grace.

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Abbot As candle-shine In a dismal place, A freshet spilt In a desert waste, As innocence Outshineth guilt, A sign was given Of God’s good grace.

Abbot and Monks (exhorting the congregation) O pray for the souls of all that fall By the wayside, all alone. O praise our God that lifteth up The fallen, the lost, the least.

Abbot Belovèd, attend To our mystery.

(The Monks who are to play the Madwoman, the Traveller, and the Ferryman are cere - monially prepared.)

(While the Madwoman and the Traveller leave the acting area with their Acolytes, the Monks place benches to one side; then, with the Abbot, they sit on them, representing a Chorus of Pilgrims in the ferry boat. The Ferryman is revealed. The Ferryman comes forward.)

Ferryman I am the ferryman. I row the ferry boat Over the Curlew, Our wide and reedy Fenland river. In every season, every weather, I row the ferry boat.

Abbot and Chorus Between two kingdoms the river flows; On this side, the Land of the West, On the other, the Eastern fens.

Ferryman Today is an important day, Many people need the ferry To reach the other bank. There the folk are gathering To pray before a grave, As if it were a shrine. A year ago today There was a burial; The river folk believe Some special grace is there To heal the sick in body and soul. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 11

Today is an important day, Mark this well, all of you!

(He sits in the boat. The Traveller approaches.)

Traveller I come from the West-land, on a journey. Far, far northward I must go; Weary days of travel lie before me.

Abbot and Chorus Far, far northward he must go; Weary days of travel lie before him.

Traveller Behind me, under clouds and mist, Heaths and pastures I have crossed; Woods and moorlands I have passed, Many a peril I have faced; May God preserve wayfaring men! (The Traveller arrives at the ferry.) Here is the bank of the Curlew River, And now I have reached the ferry. (The Ferryman prepares to cast off.) I see the ferry boat about to leave.

Chorus Between two kingdoms, O River, flow On this side, the Land of the West, On the other, Dyke and marsh and mere, The Land of the Eastern Fens.

Traveller Ferryman! Have you a place for me, A place for me in your boat?

(The Ferryman rises.)

Ferryman Very well, sir. There is room for you. Pray get in. But first may I ask you What is that strange noise Up the highway there?

Madwoman (off) You mock me, you ask me Whither I go, How should I know? Where the nest of the curlew Is not filled with snow, Where the eyes of the lamb Are untorn by the crow, The carrion crow— There let me go!

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Ferryman May I ask, did you see Who it is that is singing?

Traveller Yes, the people were watching A woman in the road Who seems to be crazy. They say she comes From the Black Mountains. The people were amused When they heard her singing; They all began laughing. She is coming this way.

(The Madwoman appears.)

Ferryman I will delay the ferry boat.

(The Traveller sits in the boat.)

Madwoman Let me in! Let me out! Tell me the way! How can you say Why the point of an arrow Divideth the day? Why to live is to warm An image of clay Dark as the day? Let me in! Let me out! I turn me away!

Ferryman I will wait for the madwoman, I should like to see her.

All (Traveller, Ferryman, Abbot, and Chorus) She is coming this way! We will wait for the madwoman. We will delay the ferry boat! We wish to see her. We wish to hear her singing. We will laugh at her Crazily singing.

All She wanders raving, and all alone.

(She arrives at the ferry and takes a few steps to the left, then to the right, as if dancing.) 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 13

Madwoman Clear as a sky without a cloud May be a mother’s mind, But darker than a starless night With not one gleam, not one, No gleam to show the way.

All is clear but unclear too, Love for my child confuses me: Where is my darling now? Shall I ask these travellers?

Abbot and Chorus Or will they also laugh at her As she wanders raving, and all alone?

Madwoman Does he know his mother’s grief?

(She falls to the ground.)

Abbot and Chorus Dew on the grass Sparkles like hope And then is gone.

Madwoman Dew on the grass Sparkles like hope; Dew on the… It’s here, it’s gone!

(She sinks down.)

Abbot Is she to pass her days Complaining of their bitter taste?

Chorus Dew on the grass It’s here, it’s gone!

(The Madwoman raises her head and gazes into the distance.)

Madwoman Near the Black Mountains There I dwelt, Far in the West, There I was living With my only child.

One day alas he vanished: With silence every room was full, Full of his absence, Roaring like the sea!

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My only child was lost, Seized as a slave By a stranger, a foreigner.

They told me he was taken Eastward, eastward, Along the drovers’ track East, east, east.

Clear and unclear in mind Eastward I wander on, In longing for my son.

(She weeps.)

All A thousand leagues may sunder A mother and her son, But that would not diminish Her yearning for her child.

Traveller Will her search be at an end Here, at the Curlew River, Now she has reached the Curlew River?

(The Madwoman rises.)

Abbot and Chorus The river flowing between two realms— On this side, the Land of the West, On the other, the Eastern fens.

Madwoman Ferryman, ferryman, Let me get into your boat!

Ferryman How can I take you in my ferry boat, Unless you tell me Where you have come from, And where you are going?

Madwoman I come from the Black Mountains! Searching for, searching for Someone…

Ferryman So you come from the Black Mountains! I tell you, Black Mountain woman, Any fool can see Your feet are wandering, Your thoughts are wandering too. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 15

Madwoman Let me get into your boat!

Ferryman I will not take you across the Curlew Unless you entertain us with your singing!

Ferryman and Unless you entertain us with your singing!

Traveller and We want to hear you singing, crazily singing!

Abbot and Basses Make us laugh with your singing, Madwoman!

All Show us what you can do! Madwoman, sing!

Madwoman Ignorant man! You refuse a passage To me, a noblewoman! It ill becomes you Curlew ferryman, Such incivility.

Ferryman The Black Mountain woman Uses a high-flown way of talking!

Madwoman Let me remind you Of the famous traveller Who once made a riddle In this very place: “Birds of the Fenland, though you float or fly, Wild birds, I cannot understand your cry, Tell me, does the one I love In this world still live?” (The Madwoman turns, watching the flight of the birds.) Ferryman, there the wild birds float! I see the wild birds fly! What are those birds?

Ferryman Those? They’re only common gulls.

Madwoman Gulls you may call them! Here, by the Curlew River, Call them, I beg of you, Curlews of the Fenland. WhiteLightFestival.org 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 16

Ferryman I beg your pardon. Living in this famous place I should have known To call them Curlews of the Fenland.

Madwoman Instead of gulls.

Traveller A traveller at this very place cried:

Madwoman “Tell me, does the one I love In this world still live?”

(The Madwoman makes as if to follow the birds.)

Traveller Thinking of his lady love—

Ferryman She too is seeking someone lost. Searching for a son.

Traveller —Yearning for a woman.

Traveller and Ferryman Both derive from longing, Both from love. “Birds of the Fenland,” she will ask, But answer they will not. “Birds of the Fenland, though you float or fly, Wild birds, I cannot understand your cry.”

Chorus Birds of the Fenland, she will ask you too, “Is the child I love Still living?” She will ask, and she will ask, But answer they will not. “Tell me, does the one I love In this world still live?”

(Coming forward, the Madwoman goes up to the Ferryman and joins her hands in supplication.)

Abbot and Chorus Birds of the Fenland, she has heard you crying There in the West, in the mountains, in her home. How far, how very far, Birds of the Fenland, comes this wandering soul. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 17

Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus Ferryman, she begs of you To let her come aboard. She sees the boat is crowded, But let her come aboard, Let her come aboard!

Ferryman This madwoman seems, Though her mind may be wandering, To know what she seeks.

Lady, be quick and come aboard! And you too, traveller. To navigate the ferry boat Is not easy. The river is glassy, But the Devil himself With strong-flowing currents Can drag the boat aside, And carry away All who are in her.

Be careful and sit still. God have mercy upon us!

Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus God have mercy upon us!

(The Madwoman and the Traveller enter the boat.)

Ferryman Hoist the sail!

(The Acolytes hoist the sail. The Ferryman plies his pole.)

Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus Curlew River, smoothly flowing Between the Lands of East and West, Dividing person from person! Ah, ferryman, Row your ferry boat, Bring nearer, nearer, Person to person, By chance or misfortune, Time, death or misfortune, Divided asunder!

Traveller What are all those people Crowded on the other bank Near that yew tree?

(The Ferryman stops poling.)

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Ferryman Today is an important day, The people are assembling In memory of a sad event. I will tell you the story.

It happened on this very day a year ago. There was a stranger in my boat, a Northman, a foreigner, a big man armed with a sword and a cudgel. He was on his way to take ship to the North-land. (He poles once.) And not alone. There was a boy with him, a gentle boy, twelve years old, maybe, and a Christian. The Heathen said he’d bought him as a slave. The boy said nothing. I could see he was ill. Unused to travelling rough. (He poles once.) Poor child. When we had crossed the river, he said he was too weak to walk, and down he lay on the grass near the chapel. (He poles once.) The Heathen threatened him, swore at him, struck him. He was a man without a heart, and we feared he would kill the boy, but he left the boy where he was, and went on his way. (He poles twice.)

Abandoned by his master, the boy lay alone. The river people pitied him, took care of him. But he grew weaker and weaker. We asked him who he was, where he was born. “I was born,” he said, “in the Western Marches; from my pillow, when I first opened my eyes, I could see the Black Mountains. I am the only child of a nobleman. My father is dead, I have lived alone with my mother. Then, walking alone in our own fields, I was seized by that stranger. He threatened to kill me…But there was no need: I know I am dying… Please bury me here, by the path to this chapel. Then if travellers from my dear country pass this way, their shadows will fall on my grave, and plant a yew tree in memory of me.” He spoke these words calmly, like a man. Then he said a prayer: “Kyrie eleison! Kyrie eleison!” And then he died.

Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus Kyrie eleison! Kyrie eleison!

(The Madwoman weeps.)

Ferryman The river folk believe The boy was a saint. They take earth from his grave To heal their sickness. They report many cures.

The river folk believe His spirit has been seen.

Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus Kyrie eleison! Kyrie eleison!

Ferryman There may be some people from the West in this boat. Let them offer prayers that the soul of that boy may rest in peace.

Traveller, Abbot and Chorus Kyrie eleison! Kyrie eleison!

(The Ferryman steers the boat to the bank.) 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 19

Ferryman Look! While you were listening to my story, we have reached the bank. Lower the sail!

(The sail is lowered and the tomb is seen.)

Ferryman Make haste there, all of you! Come, get ashore!

(The Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus leave the boat and approach the tomb. The Madwoman remains in the boat.)

Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus Curlew River, smoothly flowing Between the Lands of East and West, Dividing person from person. Ah, Ferryman, row your ferry boat! Bring nearer, nearer, Person to person, By chance or misfortune, Time, death or misfortune, Divided asunder!

Traveller I’ll remain here today. I cannot journey on today. Though I never knew the boy I’ll offer up a prayer for him.

Abbot and Chorus Though he never knew the boy He’ll offer up a prayer for him.

(The Ferryman turns and looks at the weeping Madwoman.)

Ferryman Come along there, you crazy soul! It’s time to land, So get out of the boat. Come along there, Get out of the boat! You must be soft-hearted To weep at my story, To weep so bitterly. Make haste there, step ashore!

Madwoman Ferryman, tell me, When did it happen, This story you have told us?

Ferryman Last year, at this time, On this very day, a year ago.

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Madwoman Ferryman, how old was the boy?

Ferryman I told you, he was twelve.

Madwoman What was his name?

Ferryman But I told you all about him! I told you what he was, And how he came here.

Madwoman Ferryman, pray tell me, Tell me what his name was.

Ferryman Oh how should I know? His father was a nobleman From the Black Mountains.

Madwoman And since then have neither Of his parents been here?

Ferryman No one of his family.

Madwoman Not even his mother?

Ferryman Not even his mother!

Madwoman No wonder no one Came here to look for him! He was the child Sought by this madwoman.

Traveller The boy was her child, The child she was seeking! He who died here Was this poor woman’s child.

Ferryman Who could have dreamed it? The boy who died here! Her sad search is ended. Is ended after months of weary searching. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 21

Abbot The madwoman was his mother! Him she was seeking Was not to be found.

Madwoman Am I dreaming? Is this a dream?

Chorus He was her child! She has found his grave here by the river. She was his mother! She has only found sorrow! Is this a dream? Or is it true she was his mother?

(The Madwoman rises.)

Madwoman O Curlew river, cruel Curlew, Where all my hope is swept away! Torn from the nest, my bird, Crying in empty air. Now the nest of the curlew is silent with snow, And the lamb is devoured by the carrion crow… The innocent lamb… The heathen crow! Good people, where shall I turn? Tell me now! Take me back… Chain on my soul, let me go!

(She sinks down.) O River Curlew, O curlew, cruel bird! Abbot and Chorus Here, where the Curlew Separates for ever On that side, the Land of the West, And here, the Eastern Fens. Here where the River For ever divides them Her sad search is ended.

Ferryman Who would have guessed that The boy was her child?

Traveller This madwoman was his mother. Ferryman Lady, I pity you!

Traveller I pity you!

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Both We pity you!

Madwoman Let me in! Let me out! Let me in!

Ferryman Your sad search is ended!

(The Ferryman and Traveller move to help the Madwoman out of the boat.)

Ferryman Now let me show you Where the boy is buried. I beg you, Please step this way. Lady, come with me.

(The Ferryman leads the Madwoman to the tomb.) This is the grave of your young child. That his young soul may rest in peace, We all can pray. May Heaven receive it! For his young soul’s repose, lady, Your prayer is best.

Ferryman, Abbot and Chorus Lady, let him guide you to the tomb, The place where your wandering steps have brought you. This is the grave of your young child. That his soul may rest in peace, We all can pray. May Heaven receive it!

Madwoman (turning away from the tomb) Hoping, I wandered on, Hoping to find my son. I have come alone To the reedy land of Fens, Where all is strange to me, Only to learn In all this earth, no road Leads to my living son. Hoping, I wandered on— I have come to a grave! Did I give birth to him To have him stolen And carried far away, Here to the Eastern Fens To end as dust by the road?

O, good people, open up the tomb That I may see again The shape of my child, His face, his well-belovèd face! (She claws hopelessly at the tomb, then sinks down weeping.) 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 23

Abbot and Chorus He whose life was full of promise Promised, and is gone. She who feels her life is passing, She is left alone. Left alone, and weeping: May her weeping cease!

(An Acolyte tolls the bell.)

Ferryman What is the use of tears? Whom can your weeping help? No, rather say a prayer That in the other world The soul of your child May rest in peace.

Madwoman Cruel! Grief is too great, I cannot pray, I am struck down. Here, on the ground, All I can do is weep.

Traveller This is not right. Lady, remember, All of us here May pray for your child: But your prayer is best To rejoice his young soul.

Madwoman What you say is true: I’ll say a prayer For the soul of my lost child. Deafened by his silence, Roaring like the sea.

(She turns and faces the tomb.)

Abbot and Chorus The moon has risen, The river breeze is blowing, The Curlew River Is flowing to the sea. Now it is night And time to pray.

Madwoman I pray with the others Under the white light Of the cloudless moon.

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Ferryman And her prayers go straight to Heaven.

Traveller Her prayers go to Heaven.

Ferryman and Traveller And, O, to the numberless Holy and glorious Saints and martyrs, All the company Holy and glorious There in the blessèd Abode of eternal Peacefulness, happiness. All angels, all martyrs, All saints, pray for us. Christ have mercy upon us.

(The Abbot and Chorus kneel, facing the tomb.)

Abbot and Chorus

Custodes hominum psallimus Angelos, The guardians of our race, our Angel Guides we hail; Naturae fragili quos Pater addidit our Father sendeth forth to aid our nature frail Caelestis comites, insidiantibus these heavenly friends, lest we should Ne succumberet hostibus. suffer overthrow through cunning of our subtle foe. Nam quod corruerit proditor Angelus, For he, who justly lost the honor once his own, Concessis merito pulsus honoribus, the traitor angel, rues his lost and vacant throne, Ardens invidia, pellere nititur with burning envy strives to make them fall away Quos caelo Deus advocat. whom God doth call to heavenly day.

(The Ferryman and Traveller kneel, facing the tomb. The Madwoman turns from the tomb and gazes into the distance.)

Madwoman From the river I hear voices, Like souls abandoned Curlews are calling.

“Birds of the Fenland, though you float or fly, Wild birds, I cannot understand your cry. Tell me, does the one I love In this world still live?” 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 25

Ferryman, Traveller, Abbot, and Chorus Haec custos igitur pervigil advola, Then, watchful Guardian, spread thy wings and cleave the air, Avertens patria de tibi credita haste hither to our home committed to thy care; Tam morbos animi, quam requiescere drive thence each noxious ill that might the soul infest, Quidquid non sinit incolas. nor suffer danger here to rest.

(The voice of the Spirit of the Boy is heard from inside the tomb.)

Spirit and the Rest Sanctae sit Triadi Iaus pia jugiter… Now to the holy Three your praise devoutly pour…

Madwoman I thought I heard The voice of my child.

Spirit and the Rest Cujus perpetuo numine machina… His glorious Godhead guides and governs evermore…

Madwoman I thought I heard him. Praying in his grave.

Spirit and the Rest Triplex haec regitur… This triple fame…

Ferryman We also heard it,

Traveller The voice of the child

Spirit and the Rest …cujus in omnia… …to him ascribe we all our praise…

Ferryman We shall keep silent.

Traveller Say your prayer alone, lady.

Ferryman Say it alone.

Abbot, Chorus and Spirit Regnat gloria saecula. Who reigns through everlasting days.

(All except the Madwoman withdraw from the tomb.)

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Madwoman O but if only I might hear it, Hear his voice once again, The voice of my son, Hear the voice of my son!

Spirit Amen.

(The Spirit of the Boy appears in full view above the tomb.)

All (except the Madwoman and Spirit) Hear his voice! See, there is his shape!

Madwoman Is it you, my child?

(The Spirit circles slowly round the Madwoman, who appears transformed. He returns to the tomb.)

Spirit (off) Go your way in peace, mother. The dead shall rise again And in that blessèd day We shall meet in Heaven.

Abbot and Chorus Amen.

Spirit God be with you all.

Ferryman and Traveller Amen.

Spirit God be with you, mother.

Mother (now freed from her madness) Amen.

Spirit Amen.

(The Mother now bows her head. The Monks come forward and hide her from view. She, the Ferryman, and the Traveller resume their Monks’ habits. The Abbot comes forward and addresses the congregation.)

Abbot Good souls, we have shown you here How in sad mischance A sign was given of God’s grace. 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 27

Monks A sign of God’s grace.

Abbot A vision was seen, A miracle and a mystery, At our Curlew River here. A woman was healed by prayer and grace, A woman with grief distraught.

Monks With grief distraught.

Abbot and Monks (exhorting the congregation) O praise our God that lifteth up The fallen, the lost, the least; The hope He gives, and His grace that heals.

Abbot In hope, in peace, ends our mystery.

(The Abbot moves away from the acting area, and the Monks, Acolytes, and Instrumentalists form a procession after him.)

All Te lucis ante terminum, To thee before the close of day, Rerum Creator, poscimus, creator of the world, we pray Ut pro tua clementia, that, with thy wonted favor, thou Sis praesul et custodia. wouldst be our guard and keeper now.

Procul recedant somnia, From all ill dreams defend our sight, Et noctium phantasmata: from fears and terrors of the night; Hostemque nostrum comprime, withhold from us our ghostly foe, Ne polluantur corpora. that spot of sin we may not know.

Praesta, Pater piissime, O Father, that we ask be done, Patrique compar Unice, through Jesus Christ, thine only Son, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, who, with the Holy Ghost and thee, Regnans per omne saeculum. doth live and reign eternally.

Amen. Amen.

—© 1966 by Faber Music Ltd, London. Reproduced by permission of the publishers. All rights reserved.

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Meet the Artists E K R A L C - Y T

T Jeremy White E N A C

M Born in Liverpool and educated at Oxford, I

S Ian Bostridge Jeremy White (, Abbot) enjoys an inter - Ian Bostridge’s (tenor, Madwoman) interna - national career in opera, concert, and record - tional recital career takes him to the fore - ing, with repertoire ranging from early music most concert halls of Europe, Japan, and to contemporary compositions. He has North America, with regular appearances at worked with numerous esteemed conduc - the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg and tors, including Trevor Pinnock, Andrew the Edinburgh, Munich, and Aldeburgh fes - Parrott, Iván Fischer, Harry Chris tophers, tivals. Opera engagements have included Pierre Boulez, and Hans Graf, and has and Adès’s The Tempest for appeared with Luciano Berio, Arvo Pärt, and the –Covent Garden, in their own works. Concert The Rake’s Progress in Munich, Semele for tours have taken him to most of the major , Don Giovanni for European venues as well as to the U.S., the Vienna State Opera, and Aschenbach in Brazil, and . Mr. White performs fre - Death in Venice for English National Opera quently on the opera stage, including at the and at La Monnaie, Brussels. Aix-en-Provence Festival, Metropolitan Opera, and Royal Opera House–Covent Mr. Bostridge has appeared in concert with Garden, where he has appeared each sea - the Berliner Philharmoniker and Vienna son since his debut in 1991. Phil harmonic; Royal , Boston Symphony, and London Symphony Recent seasons have included Béthune in orchestras; New York and Los Angeles Phil - Les vêpres siciliennes at Dutch National harmonics; and the Metropolitan Opera Opera; Dansker in Billy Budd for Glynde - Orchestra, under Simon Rattle, Bernard bourne Festival Opera and in New York; Haitink, , Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Parsons in 1984 at and in Valencia; Muti, , Daniel Kecal in The Bartered Bride , Sourin in The Barenboim, James Levine, , Queen of Spades , Snug in A Midsummer Andris Nelsons, and . His Night’s Dream , and Lignière in Cyrano de many recordings have won major interna - Bergerac for Royal Opera House –Covent tional record prizes and have been nomi - Garden; the title role in , and nated for 13 Grammys. Mr. Bostridge was Pluto in Orfeo for English National Opera; appointed a Commander of the Most Where the Wild Things Are with the Berliner Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Philharmoniker; L’enfance du Christ at the 2004 New Year’s Honors. He is Humanitas BBC Proms under ; professor of at the Achilla in Giulio Cesare for the Grand- University of Oxford. His book, Schubert’s Théâtre de Bordeaux; and Rocco in Fidelio , Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession , Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring , Il Re will be published by in the in Aïda , Dikoy in Kát’a Kabanová , and Talbot UK and Knopf in the U.S. in early 2015. in Giovanna d’Arco for . 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 29

Upcoming performances at the Royal Tito ), Ariodates ( Xerxes ), and Kolenaty ( The Opera House include Daddy Hogan in Makropulos Case ) for English National Anna Nicole , Schmidt in Andrea Chénier , Opera; Radamisto for the Marseille Opera; Bonze in , Benoît in La Orlando with the Gabrieli Consort; Leporello bohème , and Marquis d’Obigny in La travi - (Don Giovanni ) for the Scottish Opera and ata . Mr. White appears by kind permission the Montréal Opera; Britten’s Curlew River of the Royal Opera House. for the Edinburgh Festival; Guglielmo and Don Alfonso ( Così fan tutte ), Papageno ( Die Zauberflöte ), Dulcamara ( L’elisir d’amore ), Sharpless ( Madama Butterfly ) for ; and for the G R

U German State Opera. He made his debut B L H

A with Lyric Opera of Chicago as Major

E I S

S General Stanley ( The Pirates of Penzance ) U S Neal Davies and returned as Ko-Ko ( The Mikado ) with Neal Davies (bass-baritone, the Traveller) Andrew Davis. This season Mr. Davies studied at King’s College London and the returns to the English National Opera as , and won the Ariodates and to the Royal Opera House– Lieder Prize at the 1991 BBC Cardiff Singer Covent Garden as Alaska Wolf Joe ( The of the World competition. He has appeared Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny ). with the Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons, BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, Cleveland and Philharmonia N A M

Orchestras under Christoph von Dohnányi, K R O W

Chamber Orchestra of Europe under T R E

Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Orchestra of the Age B O of Enlightenment under Frans Brüggen, and R Mark Stone the London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic under Daniel Harding. Mark Stone (baritone, the Ferryman) was He has also been a regular guest at the born in London and studied mathematics Edinburgh Festival and BBC Proms. at King’s College, Cambridge, and singing at the Guildhall School of Music and His discography includes Handel’s Messiah , Drama. His recent operatic engagements Theodora , and Saul , as well as Haydn’s Die have included Vicomte de Valmont Schöpfung (Gramophone Award, 2008) (Quartett ) at the Royal Opera House– under Paul McCreesh; Jen u°fa and The Covent Garden, Ned Keene ( Peter Grimes ) Makropulos Case under ; with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Barber’s Vanessa under Leonard Slatkin; Philharmonic Festival, Faninal ( Der Messiah under René Jacobs; Beethoven’s Rosenkavalier ) with the City of Birmingham Ninth Symphony under Osmo Vänskä; the Symphony Orchestra under Andris Hyperion Schubert Edition with Graham Nelsons, Kurwenal ( Tristan und Isolde ) with Johnson; and Britten’s Billy Budd with the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding (Grammy Award, 2010). Daniel Harding, the title role in Don Giovanni for New Zealand Ope ra and Operatic appearances have included Giulio , Mountjoy ( ) Cesare and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro for at the Royal Opera House–Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House–Covent Garden; and Il Conte ( Le nozze di Figaro ) for his L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato , debut at the Cologne Opera. His many Zebul ( ), Publio ( La clemenza di roles at English National Opera have

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included the title role in Don Giovanni, Il Conte ( Le nozze di Figaro ), Guglielmo, Marcello ( La bohème ), Figaro ( Il barbiere di Siviglia ), Enrico ( ), Silvio ( I Pagliacc i), Chou-en-Lai ( Nixon in China ), and Prince Yama dori in Anthony Min - ghella’s production of Madama Butterfly . Ian Osborne (treble, Spirit of the Boy) was In the U.S. he is a regular guest at the born in New Haven, Connecticut. A sixth- Philadelphia Opera, where his roles include grader at Saint Thomas School in New Ford ( Falstaf f), Germont père ( La traviata ), York City, he is making his Lincoln Center the title role in , and most debut at the White Light Festival. After recently, Papageno ( Die Zauberflöte ). He has singing with both his church and school also sung Guglielmo ( Così fan tutte ) in , he began his formal choir training Santa Fe. In concert he has recently with Walden Moore and the Trinity Choir of appeared with Lorin Maazel and the Men and Boys (New Haven). He now sings , Vladimir Jurowski under the direction of John Scott in the Saint and the Dresden Staats kapelle, Xian Zhang Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, and studies in Milan, Michael Schoenwandt in voice with Stephanie Tennill. Amsterdam, Donald Run nicles in Glasgow, in London, and James Judd at the Vienna Konzerthaus. He has also appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding and Colin Davis, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Antonio Pappano, the Hallé Orchestra with Mark Elder, and the Gabrieli Consort with Paul McCreesh. Brothers Leif and Anders Pedersen (tre - ble, Acolytes) were born in Manhattan and Ian Osborne joined the Saint Thomas Choir School in Leif Pedersen January 2013. Leif began singing when he Anders Pedersen accompanied Anders for his audition at the The three boys in this production attend Choir School. Leif plays the piano, drums, Saint Thomas Choir School. Founded in and guitar and enjoys acting, theater, song- 1919, it is the only church-related boarding writing, and swimming. Anders plays the choir school in the U.S., and one of only a piano and enjoys ballet, Broadway musi - few similar choir schools remaining in the cals, comic books, and cooking. world. The Choir School offers a challeng - ing pre-preparatory curriculum, inter - Britten Sinfonia scholastic sports, and musical training for Britten Sinfonia is acclaimed for its virtu - boys in grades three through eight. The osic musicianship, an inspired approach to school is committed to training and educat - concert programming that makes bold, ing talented musicians without regard to intelligent connections across 400 years of religious, economic, or social background. repertoire, and a versatility that is second to none. Britten Sinfonia breaks the mold by not having a principal conductor or direc - tor; instead, the ensemble collaborates with the finest international guest artists from across the musical spectrum, result - ing in performances of rare insight and

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energy. Britten Sinfonia is an associate Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and ensemble at the Barbican, and has resi - the National Opera Studio in London. He dencies in Norwich and Cambridge (where has worked as assistant conductor, chorus, it is the university’s orchestra-in-associa - master, or coach for numerous companies, tion). The orchestra also performs a cham - including the Royal Opera House–Covent ber music series at Wigmore Hall and Garden, Festival, Scottish appears regularly at major UK festivals, Opera, Spoleto Festival, Italy, and La including Aldeburgh and the BBC Proms. Monnaie, Brussels. He was head of music The orchestra’s growing international pro - at the Royal Danish Opera (1998–2001), file includes regular touring to Mexico, where he conducted Idomeneo , L’elisir South America, and Europe. In 2012 d’amore , Die Zauberflöte , and Le nozze di Britten Sinfonia made its North American Figaro . Elsewhere he has conducted Die debut at Lincoln Center. Zauberflöte and La traviata for and La bohème , Così fan In 2014–15 Britten Sinfonia collaborates tutte , the world premiere of Alec Roth’s with artists including , Sarah opera for children All Summer in a Day , and Conn olly, King’s College Choir, Barbara for Opera North, for Hannigan, Iestyn Davies, Netia Jones, whom he also translated Luisa Miller . He Thomas Adès, Lawrence Power, and Ian was appointed head of music at English Bostridge. The season includes premieres National Opera in 2003, and has since con - from composers including James Mac - ducted Die Zauberflöte , Falstaff , La belle Millan, Kaija Saariaho, Patrick John Jones, Hélène , Early Earth , La bohème , and Joey Roukens. Central to Britten The Mikado , The Turn of the Screw , Sinfonia’s artistic programs is a wide range , La traviata , Madama Butterfly , and of creative learning projects for schools and Don Giovanni for the company. He has also the wider community . In the 2014–15 sea - translated Così fan tutte , The Pearl Fishers , son, Britten Sinfonia Academy, a youth and La traviata , and has completed a new ensemble, will perform its own concert as edition of The Pearl Fishers . part of the orchestra’s At Lunch series, and the ensemble will host a composition com - Britten Sinfonia Voices petition, OPUS2015, offering unpublished Britten Sinfonia Voices is a professional composers the chance to receive a profes - vocal ensemble that reflects the artistic sional commission . vision and range of one of Europe’s leading chamber orchestras, Britten Sinfonia. In 2013 Britten Sinfonia was awarded the Members of the ensemble are some of the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award finest professional singers—both emerging for Ensemble, having previously won the talent and experienced artists—a combina - Chamber Music Award in 2009 and the tion in keeping with Britten Sinfonia’s ethos. Ensemble Award in 2007. Britten Sinfonia The group is equally adept at performing recordings have been nominated for repertoire from the Baroque to the latest Grammy Awards, and have received a new music, and is directed by the Gramophone Award and an ECHO/Klassik acclaimed choral conductor and singer, Recording Award. Britten Sinfonia is a BBC Eamonn Dougan. They have performed a Radio 3 broadcast partner and regularly range of works, including Men delssohn’s records for Harmonia Mundi and Hyperion. Elijah and Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ , and they have premiered new works by Nico Martin Fitzpatrick Muhly and E¯riks Ešenvalds under conduc - Martin Fitzpatrick (music director) studied at tors including Mark Elder, David Hill, and Balliol College Oxford as Organ Scholar, the Andreas Delfs.

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During the 2013–14 season, Britten Scottish Ensemble, Before Life and After at Sinfonia Voices performed concerts cele - the Cheltenham Festival, and brating Harrison Birtwistle’s 80th birthday Thomas Arne’s Alfred for the Royal Opera and toured Bach’s St. John Passion in House, Handel’s Susanna and with venues including London’s Barbican and the , the UK premiere the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. They also of Kurt Schwertsik’s Wondrous Tale of made their debut at Wigmore Hall in a new Fanferlizzy Sunnyfeet , Cross Currents (a work by Roderick Williams as part of the site-specific work staged at Tilbury Docks), Britten Sinfonia’s award-winning At Lunch and films for concerts to the work of concert series. In 2014–15 the Voices fea - Schoenberg, Berg, Purcell, Stravinsky, ture in the premiere of John Tavener’s last Handel, Bartók, Britten, Blow, Dowland, major concert work, Flood of Beauty , tour Berio, and Couperin. Ms. Jones has also the U.S. in Netia Jones’s acclaimed pro - directed The Way to the Sea and Ever - duction of Curlew River , and give Easter lasting Light at the Aldeburgh Festival, an performances of James MacMillan’s St. installation around Messiaen’s Louange à Luke Passion . l’éternité de Jésus in London’s South Bank Centre, and Messiaen’s Quartet for the Netia Jones End of Time for the London . Netia Jones (direction, design, costume, video) is a director, designer, and filmmaker Ian Scott for opera and concerts. She is the director Ian Scott (lighting design) trained at the of Transition, a multimedia performance Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. group presenting concerts and operas with Recent work includes Dead to Me live video and film, and also of Lightmap, a (Greyscale/Gary Kitching), mixed media partnership working in the (Aldeburgh and Edinburgh International UK, Europe, and the U.S. In 2012 Ms. Festivals), My Name Is… (Tamasha), Jones directed Where the Wild Things Are Curlew River (St. Giles, Barbican), Frozen and Higglety Pigglety Pop! at the Alde - (Fingersmiths and Birmingham Rep), The burgh Festival and London’s Barbican Victorian in the Wall (Will Adamsdale and Theatre; the following year she created film Fuel), Marco Polo (Bergen National Opera), for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s gala for and The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre). As a the tenth anniversary of Walt Disney Hall. member of the experimental theater com - She also directed Niccolò Castiglioni’s pany Suspect Culture, Mr. Scott designed Inverno In-ver with New World Symphony much of the company’s work, including Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas for Timeless , Mainstream , and Lament . performances in Miami and Chicago. In 2015 she will direct Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Other theater credits include Sons of the Wonderland for the Los Angeles Philhar - Desert and Our Day Out (Royal Court, monic and the Barbican Theatre. Liverpool), Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! (Aldeburgh Festival, Ms. Jones’s past directing highlights Los Angeles Philharmonic, Barbican), Our include György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments Friends in the North (Northern Stage), at the Royal Opera House; Tan Dun’s Longitude (Greenwich Theatre), Blasted Marco Polo at the Bergen National Opera; and Reasons to Be Cheerful (Graeae), The concerts of Webern, Nancarrow, and New May Queen (Liverpool Everyman), Blok/ York minimalist composers for the London Eko (The Wrestling School), Corrie! (UK & Sinfonietta; and Schoenberg’s Verklärte New Zealand tours), Animal Farm (West Nacht for the Orchester Musikkollegium York shire Playhouse), Duck! and The Winterthur. Previous directing credits also Garbage King (Unicorn Theatre), Dancing at include Britten’s Les illuminations with the Lugh nasa (Lyric, Belfast), Star Signs of a 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 33

Diva (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Static choreogra phers, dance companies, and (Suspect Culture and Graeae), Be My Baby directors complemented by conversations (Derby Theatre), Oh! What a Lovely War with artists and scholars and post-perfor - (National Theatre), The Beauty Queen of mance White Light Lounges. Leenane (Tron Theatre), Knots and Touch Me (CoisCéim Dance), They’re Playing Our Lincoln Center for the Performing Song (Menier Chocolate Factory), Sinner Arts, Inc. (Stan Won’t Dance), Blown (Drum, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Plymouth), Observe the Sons of Ulster (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presen - Marching Towards the Somme (Abbey ter of artistic programming, national leader Theatre—Best Lighting Design, Irish Times in arts and education and community rela - Theatre Awards), Proper Clever (Liverpool tions, and manager of the Lincoln Center Playhouse), and Europe (Barbican Inter - campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 national Theatre Events). free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, White Light Festival LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festi - I could compare my music to white light, vals, including American Songbook, Great which contains all colors. Only a prism can Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln divide the colors and make them appear; Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night this prism could be the spirit of the listener. Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the —Arvo Pärt . Celebrating its fifth anniver - White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy sary, the White Light Festival is Lincoln Award–winning Live From Lincoln Center , Center’s annual exploration of music which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of and art’s power to reveal the many dimen - the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides sions of our interior lives. International in support and services for the Lincoln Center scope, the multidisciplinary festival offers complex and the 11 resident organizations. a broad spectrum of the world’s leading In addition, LCPA led a $1.2 billion campus instrumentalists, vocalists, ensembles, renovation, completed in October 2012.

WhiteLightFestival.org 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 34 N I K N A R

Y R R A H

Britten Sinfonia Martin Fitzpatrick , Music Director

Viola Flute and Piccolo Percussion Clare Finnimore Karen Jones Scott Bywater

Bass Horn Harp Ben Russell Richard Wainwright Hugh Webb A G E V O L A E

N I M A J N E B

Britten Sinfonia Voices Eamonn Dougan , Director

Tenor Baritone Bass Thomas Herford Thomas Kennedy Oliver Hunt Andrew Dickinson Gabriel Gottlieb Louis Hurst Daniel Joy Douglas Nairne 10-30 Curlew_GP 10/20/14 2:37 PM Page 35

Lincoln Center Programming Department Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Hanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music Programming Jon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary Programming Jill Sternheimer, Acting Director, Public Programming Lisa Takemoto, Production Manager Charles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary Programming Kate Monaghan, Associate Director, Programming Claudia Norman, Producer, Public Programming Mauricio Lomelin, Associate Producer, Contemporary Programming Julia Lin, Associate Producer Nicole Cotton, Production Coordinator Regina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic Director Luna Shyr, Programming Publications Editor Nasrene Haj, House Seat Coordinator Utsuki Otsuka, Production Assistant Reshena Liao, House Program Intern

For the White Light Festival Daedalus Design and Production, Scenery Installation Mitchell Kurtz Architect PC, Consulting Architect John Finen, Production Manager Andrew Hill, Production Electrician Jessica Barrios, Wardrobe

For Curlew River Jemima Penny, Costume Supervisor Susanna Peretz, Hair and Make-up Design Dori Deng, Video Technician Beth Hoare-Barnes, Stage Manager Jane Andrews, Deputy Stage Manager Rachel Shipp, Production Manager

Britten Sinfonia Management David Butcher, Chief Executive Nikola White, Artistic Planning Director James Calver, Concerts Director Hannah Donat, Projects Manager Annabel Leakey, Orchestra Manager Hannah Bates, Orchestra Personnel Manager Roman Benedict, Concerts Assistant Adrienne Murphy, Finance Director Elaine Rust, Finance Assistant Natalie Ellis, Acting Creative Learning Director Mateja Kaluza, Creative Learning Coordinator Emily Moss, Creative Learning Graduate Assistant Will Harriss, Development Director Claire Murphy, Corporate Partnerships Manager Elizabeth Hunt, Development Assistant Claire Bowdler, Marketing Director Karys Orman, Marketing Assistant Sophie Cohen, National Press and Public Relations Agent

Curlew River is used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, U.S. and Canadian agent for Faber Music Ltd., London, publisher and copyright owner.

Curlew River U.S. Tour Management: Askonas Holt www.askonasholt.co.uk

WhiteLightFestival.org