Roman Fever and The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine)

Pegasus Opera Company and Hagemann Rosenthal Associates are proud to present a double bill featuring the gripping female driven stories of Roman Fever by Philip Hagemann and The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine) by Francis Poulenc, play by Jean Cocteau at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, London, NW1 5HT on Friday 12 April at 7.30pm, Saturday 13 at 7.30pm and Sunday 14 at 2.30pm.

The double bill will be led by an all-female cast and creative team which reflects the powerful narrative of both operas. Roman Fever, originally a short story by the acclaimed American writer Edith Wharton, comes to life on the operatic stage for the first time in the UK at Susie Sainsbury. Philip Hagemann premiered the opera in 1989 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The story revolves around Grace Ansley and Alida Slade, both widows from Manhattan, who take their daughters to Rome to share memories of their youth. However, whilst in Rome tensions rise as Alida’s jealousy towards Grace, who has always looked down on her, comes to the surface.

The story takes twists and turns as it dissects the mysteries of relationships culminating in a shocking revelation. Hagemann’s music cradles the words, moods, and action in silken melodic strokes with touches of dissonances to highlight the feelings of the ladies toward each other. The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine) is a forty-minute, one-act opera for soprano and orchestra composed by Francis Poulenc in 1958. The opera focuses on a single character known as “she” who was abandoned by her lover who in now about to be married. The production highlights her last telephone conversation with him and probes the dynamics of relationships. Poulenc waited thirty years before composing this opera as he felt he needed to experience relationships himself before committing to the music. The result is a powerful fusion of words and music.

This double bill features libretto and music by Philip Hagemann, with direction by Josette Bushell-Mingo OBEandisconducted by Rebecca Tong. Hagemann Rosenthal Associates have produced a number of plays on Broadway and in the West End. Together they are the recipient of three Tony Awards and one Olivier Award. Composer Philip Hagemann has collaborated with Pegasus Opera Company for many years, usually double bills, most recently The Six of Calais & Ruth in 2023 (5 star, London Theatre 1, 4 star The Stage), The Aspern Papers in Spring 2022; Passion, Poison and Petrification and The Prodigal Son in 2021 plus Shaw Goes Wilde in 2019, staged at the Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music.

He also composed Ruth and The Dark Lady of The Sonnets at the Actors Church, Covent Garden in 2018. In addition to his operatic writingHagemann has published 75 choral compositions including a delightful Christmas novelty, Fruitcake, written with Penny Leka Knapp, which featured in the USA television series Nip/ Tuck. Hagemann has composed ten one-act and two full-length operas, two of which have won competitions from the National Opera Association in the USA.

Conductor Rebecca Tong is Resident Conductor of the Jakarta Sinfomia Orchestra and Artistic Director and Music Director of Ensemble Kontemporer. Rebecca was the First Prize Winner of the inaugural La Maestra competition in 2020, held in Paris, where she was also awarded the ARTE Prize and the French Concert Halls & Orchestras Prize. Highlights of her career include debuts with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester – Berlin, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic, Orchestre Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Pasadena Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonkünstler-Orchester.

Most recent highlights include debuts with Orchestre National de Lyon, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto Casa di Musica, Orchestre national d’Ile de France, Ulster Orchestra and Manchester Camerata. In 2019, Rebecca was recipient of the Taki Award for the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship in 2019. She was a Conducting Fellow at the 2018 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and in 2017, Rebecca was awarded the David Effron Conducting Fellowship for the Chautauqua Institution. Rebecca founded the Jakarta Christian Youth Orchestra in 2011. Of Indonesian of Chinese descent, Rebecca grew up in a musical family.

Director Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE is the Principal and CEO of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London and Artistic Architect for The National Black Theatre of Sweden. Born in London and based in Sweden from 2005-2021, Josette is an active spokesperson for inclusive arts and politics. Previously, she was the Head of Acting at Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden; Artistic Director for The National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre Ensemble Tyst Teater (CREA) Riksteatern; the Founder and Artistic Director of PUSH, a Black-led theatre festival with the Young Vic Theatre for which she was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts, a Judy Craymer Award for Innovation and the Southbank Cultural Diversity Award; and co-founder of PUSH’s sister organisation in Sweden, TRYCK, which works to inspire and challenge the artistic and cultural representation of Afro-Swedes and African descent artists on national stages in Sweden. In 2021, Josette was awarded H.M. The King’s Medal 8th size with the ribbon of the Order of the Seraphim by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf.

An award-winning actor and director, her career has included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Manchester Royal Exchange. She was nominated for an Olivier Award, is the recipient of a TMA Award, and starred in the internationally acclaimed production Nina: A Story about Me and Nina Simone, now a documentary film for SVT Sweden. She has served on the board of the Swedish Film Institute, as chairwoman for CinemAfrica, a Swedish Non-Profit organisation devoted to celebrating African and Diaspora film culture, is currently on the Board of Trustees for the University of London and Hackney Empire, and is Patron of the Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

“It’s a delight to be invited to direct at Pegasus, especially these two brilliant operas. The red lie of love, madness and human relationships – is a wonderful opportunity to remind us of the funniest, but darkest moments of who we are. The female gaze and centring that voice is timely. I am doubly proud, as I will be working with so many brilliant colleagues, many of whom are artists that graduated from Central. Couldn’t be better!”

Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE

The Human Voice stars Nadine Benjamin MBE a talented soprano soloist, made her Royal Opera House debut in 2020 to critical acclaim. The following year she appeared in the title role at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera further cementing her reputation as a rising star in the world of opera. Prior to this Nadine has been an English National Opera Harewood Artist and has performed with several other prestigious opera companies including Chelsea Opera Group and English National Opera, Birmingham Opera Company, Scottish Opera, English Touring Opera and Opera Holland Park.

Roman Fever stars Alison Buchanan, a world-renowned soprano and the Artistic Director of Pegasus Opera Company. Alison recently featured as an opera soprano in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. She has won several prestigious awards including the Kathleen Ferrier (Decca Prize), the Luciano Pavarotti, the Washington International and the Maggie Teyte competitions and has performed in some of the most iconic venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, The Sydney Opera House and The Royal Opera House. Alison has also worked on several celebrated conductors such as David Robertson, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Andre Previn, Jane Glover and Marin Alsop. Her performances with the New York City Opera include Porgy & Bess and Don Giovanni and with the London Symphony Orchestra at Sadler’s Wells for Pegasus Opera Company. She has also performed with The Baltimore and Boston Symphonies, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. Her concerts have taken her to various parts of the world, including St Louis, Washington DC, Gibraltar, Zimbabwe and Kazan. The production also stars Bernadine Pritchett, who made her Pegasus Opera debut in Poison, Passion & Petrification and The Prodigal Son in 2021. She has performed in a European tour of Carmen Jones, Question Time Out staged by Kombat Opera for the BBC, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba at Bath Guildhall, Pirates of Penzance at Regents Park Open Air Theatre, It’s About Joy at Crazy Coqs and Phantom of the Opera with Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theatre Co.

Pegasus Opera Company is a London, UK based professional opera company with a family of widespread artists, participants and supporters. The company produces high-quality performances and balances this with a focus on artist development, with an eye to promoting the talents of emerging artists of global majority heritage and supporting them on eminent platforms of note and significance. The Company has held on to its founder Lloyd Newton’s ethos of ‘harmony in diversity’. Pegasus Opera were awarded National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status by Arts Council England which is an acknowledgment that the company are leaders in their field with a collective responsibility to protect and develop the national arts and cultural ecology through its programmes. Pegasus Opera showcases artists, challenges audience perceptions, and advocates for inclusion and positive change. Since its inception, Pegasus has a remarkable history of producing full scale operas and concerts. Pegasus Opera champions diverse composers and celebrates music of the black diaspora.

‘(Pegasus) quietly creating opportunities and networks where none previously existed, covering territory and tackling issues overlooked by the bigger organisations’ i-news

The company has performed critically acclaimed productions including Koanga at Saddler’s Wells, Porgy and Bess at the Barbican and Treemonisha at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Most recently Pegasus performed Mami Wata at The Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House which championed female, global majority classical composers. Pegasus has commissioned a full-scale Windrush Opera which charts the experiences of intrepid travellers from the Caribbean making a new life in the UK. Pegasus was at the centre of the Windrush 75th Anniversary celebrations in London and maintains a proud history in developing traditional and contemporary operas and concerts, made accessible to wider audiences across diverse communities. Pegasus Opera Company’s Patrons include award-winning international soprano Danielle de Niese, Sharon D Clarke MBE, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa DBE, Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE, Kristin Lewis, Chuka Umunna and Roderick Williams OBE.

Pegasus Opera are pleased that several of the Central School of Speech and Drama alumni will undertake key roles in the creative team.

LISTINGS INFORMATION: Roman Fever and The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine) will be staged at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT on Friday 12 April, 7.30pm, Saturday 13 April 7.30pm and Sunday 14 April, 2.30pm 2024. Tickets are £15 conc, £25, £35.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/pegasus-opera-company/e-vqpogl