This week sees the start of the rehearsals in Manchester for Tim Benjamin’s opera “The Fire Of Olympus” in which I take on the role of Pandora in this modern-day adaptation from Greek Mythology.
The opera has been composed by Tim Benjamin who is also the artistic director of Radius Opera. As the driving force behind this project, I asked if he could spare a little time to answer a few questions and he kindly shared his insight with us.
1. The Fire of Olympus is a new opera, what inspired you to pick this subject?
In 2016 I wrote an oratorio, “Herakles”, for choir, large orchestra, 5 solo singers, and a narrator (spoken)
At the very end, the narrator, who plays the part of “Time”, a kind of mystical storyteller, says: “Perhaps now I shall tell you the story of Prometheus… but no, that can wait for another time.” The oratorio was a big success, especially with the choral society that performed it, and lots of people asked when they were going to get a sequel about Prometheus. And so the idea for this opera, “The Fire of Olympus” came about! While the opera is a very different style of piece, two of my collaborators are the same; Anthony Peter my librettist, and Professor Emma Stafford, of Leeds University, our resident Ancient Greece expert.
2. What musical influences have you used when creating the opera?
The main musical influence is Handel, specifically his “Italian” operas such as Giulio Cesare and Serse. However, rather than a pastiche (i.e. trying to make something exactly like a Handel), I have actively tried to “steal” Handel, to make it my own, in a similar way that one could accuse Stravinsky of “stealing” Pergolesi, or Britten of Purcell. So I think the end result sounds initially a bit like Handel, but on closer inspection, it’s something quite different…
There is also a strong personal, non-musical inspiration from Handel: his opera company in 18th century London, with which he directed many of his operas at the Queen’s Theatre, and practically defined the fashion for musical drama at the time. I would love to achieve something along those lines, in the modern world and context, with my company Radius Opera! So we are filming “The Fire”, in a very artistic way, and hope to use this popular contemporary art form (film) with the style of 18th-century popular opera, to forge something new and with broad appeal.
3. I think it was an amazing idea to use technology and pre-record large choir choruses, have you seen this done before? Or was it a completely new direction for you?
I have never seen or done this before, although I’ve created one or two large choral pieces. What appealed to me is the kind of person who joins their local choral society, then enjoys a wide variety of choral pieces from African Sanctus to The Messiah, performing alongside professional soloists, and develops a really fun-loving approach to music-making. I wanted to create something with those people, and give them back this new opera. And so we went and did numerous workshops, all over the north of England, and created this Chorus for “The Fire of Olympus”. It was huge fun and I can’t wait for them to hear what we’ve done!
4. What qualities do you think an opera company director needs to bring a project from inception to life?
Well, it’s hard, really really hard. There is basically no public funding for this – the Arts Council fund the big companies, but they have little money and many people competing for a slice of a diminishing pie, so they fund things like creative street festivals where the “bang for your buck” is greatest. It’s an inescapable fact that opera is expensive – perhaps the most expensive art form, particularly difficult at the “indie” level at which I’m working. I would say its only comparison (in respect of cost and difficulty) is film, which is also really hard to do well, and for which it’s also really hard to raise money for. However, with film, there are revenue streams – licensing deals, cinemas, TV – which don’t exist for opera, which really can only count on a theatre audience. And so, if opera is not subsidised somehow, ticket prices have to be high in order to pay for the work; so opera sometimes ends up accessible only to those who will pay the price. I hate that, as opera is truly an art intended for ordinary people to enjoy, much more so than (for example) chamber music or symphonic music.
I’m not sure if that answers your question! But for me, the hardest part has been trying, on one hand, to raise money and on the other hand to persuade people to donate things to us, while with my other hands, I try to create work of originality and high quality. So what does an opera director need to be? I would say an octopus. You need to have many hands…
5. Can you sum up the story, was it daunting to bring Greek mythology into a modern setting?
Zeus is a horrid, overbearing, manipulative man-child, President of Olympus and all-powerful. Prankster-activists Prometheus and Epimetheus accidentally steal his Fire, an ancient artefact that is the root of Zeus’ might. He despatches his minions Hephaestus and Pandora to recover the Fire, but they plot against him. So we end up with tragedy, comedy, passion, and politics that I think are really resonant with our present “interesting times”.
I did not think it was very daunting, though – the stories from ancient Greece are so fundamental to our culture, they almost can’t help but be familiar, yet teach us something new each time we hear them!
6. Did you remain true to the Greek legends and myths? If not, what changes have you incorporated?
The dystopian modern setting and characterisation are of course new, but apart from that, we have remained true to the myths. We have been assisted by Professor Emma Stafford from Leeds University, who is an expert on ancient Greece, but perhaps, more importantly, is a very keen amateur singer and actor!
7. When I storyboarded my role in preparation for rehearsals, I imagined Pandora as a Miss Sloane, Ivanka Trump, Karen Brady type woman, how do you see her?
She reminds me, a bit, of Claire Underwood in “House of Cards”, but really she’s a super-ambitious self-made ice queen, who has risen to the very top and has designs on Zeus’ position.
OK, that is not strictly true to the original Greek myth. Pandora was “created” by the gods as a punishment for stealing fire – in order to punish the first man, gods sent the first woman, effectively!! – but we felt it would be more interesting to interpret this as a powerful career woman who is flippantly destroyed by the man she helped secure in his position of power.
Nonetheless, she is still sent with her “jar” (the word “box” is a mistranslation!) to punish Epimetheus; and it is true to the Greek that she and Epimetheus end up as an item, confounding the gods’ intentions, and found the race of men from whom we all descend…
Tour Locations and Dates ( click on the picture below for tickets )
If you have any further questions I will try and answer them for you.
This looks fabulous! How exciting for you to be part of a new opera like this. Have fun with the rehearsals and the performances.
Thanks Peter, the first week’s rehearsal started well, I enjoyed learning the role and music, there are some challenging rhythms to evoke emotion.
All my best wishes
Charlotte
You do excellent interviews, Charlotte. I really like the idea of the thousand voices. One thing I noticed about the choirs is they are mostly older people, like our choirs. How do you get young people into choirs? Otherwise, mixing all those voices to be played with the opera will be so wonderful sounding. You sounded beautiful in the bit where you showed up in the second video. The whole project sounds like it will be a great success.
Thank you Timothy 😊. We have lots of children’s choirs in schools and big churches. When I started at the Conservatoire in Scotland I was a member of their female chamber choir for my first three years and the RCS Chamber Choir for four years. I’m looking forward to week 2 starting tomorrow.
Best wishes
Charlotte
We have children’s choirs, school choirs, church choirs, university choirs, but few younger adults seem interested in community choirs. We had to disband our Westside Chorale because of not enough singers, and the few singers we had were 60 or older. What’s frustrating is the westside of town has lots of families and young adults.
Perhaps we need combination choirs for families, Mums and children singing together or Dads and their children or both. We went to karate classes with my Dad and he took part and took his grades at the same time as us and encouraged six or seven other parents to take it up rather than just sit watching and we took Ballroom and Latin dance lessons for about six years as a family Mum & Dad paired up, me and my older brother and our neighbour with my youngest brother taking our medal tests together.
Choosing the correct repertoire for choirs is important too and giving performance opportunities, maybe competing or even just opportunities to sing for fundraisers for local charities. It’s a shame you don’t see more shows on tv with choirs like the Glee show choirs that were so popular. It can be such fun and a good community activity.
I assume the skills you learned in karate and dance are very useful in your opera performances?
I think families that do things together like your family and our family are rare. My wife daughter and I always did activities as a family — karate, various kinds of dance, music, choir, rose arranging, bonsai, and bicycle racing. We were usually the only family, and actually there were few couples involved in any of the above listed activities.
I agree that family participation and showing how much fun choir can be would help get more participation.
Wow! I’ve listened online to the chorus recording clip, to Tim talking about the opera with rehearsal clips, and read your interview and I’m gutted that there is no way I can get to see this live. Hope it goes brilliantly and you all have fun.
It’s great to hear Tim’s passion for his work of heart isn’t it! I’m very excited for our first show in Burnley such a shame we don’t have a performance in London but it’s great that we’re touring near home. Thank you 😊.
All my best wishes
Charlotte
Ok, you’re in Manchester, I support you, I’ve just booked a ticket. You’d better wave to me!
Woop, very excited to hear you’re coming along 👋 i’ll be sure to wave.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I love opera and studied Greek methology in college.I would love to see this one. Sounds exciting and you have a terrific role.
I wish you could see it too John, great subject to study, I only know a bit about Greek methology thanks to Aquileana’s blog.
Best wishes
Charlotte
😊
What wonderful people you know. And I am so grateful that you are sharing them with us! Enjoy the new show.
I’m having a great time, like you say meeting the most interesting people dedicated to opera.
All my best wishes
Charlotte
Congratulations, Charlotte! Wishing you all the best in your performances.
Thank you very much Lavinia 😊.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Interesting interview Charlotte, sorry the music wasn’t working….
Congrats on playing Pandora. So wonderful!!!Darlene
Actually they were working!!!!
So happy you could listen, thanks for your support and encouragement Darlene 😊.
My best wishes
Charlotte
Wow, géniale, j’adore cette approche d’écriture et de travail de mise en scène !!! Je vais essayer de venir à Manchester… rien de sure encore… On pourra peut-être essayer de faire séance photo par la même occasion…. Meilleurs pensées pour Toi !!
Ce serait un plaisir de se rencontrer à Manchester mais je sais que le voyage est long.
Best wishes to you,
Charlotte 🙋🏼♀️
Sinon, seras tu à Londres fin Septembre ?
Meilleurs pensées pour Toi Charlotte
Pascal
Non, Je serai à Manchester fin Septembre.
Another great blog post Charlotte and a lovely look into your exciting world. So pleased your coming to Manchester, me and Terry will be getting our tickets👏👏👏 😘
I like the question #4 and his answer. It is not just money but many are looking for their pieces too.
What a superb Pandora you make, Charlotte. I’ve always loved the Greek myths and now you bring them to life!
This productions sounds so exciting! Best wishes!
Thank you so much ☺️ I enjoyed learning about Lughnasadh on your blog and hope you ticked off lots of your goals good luck for those remaining 🍀
Most intriguing story, plot and interview…! I wish you great fun and success for you role as sort of Ivanka… :)))) but what will she think about it listening and seeing this opera? Would she feel honoured or rather be vexed? :))))
That was a fab interview, Charlotte!
I especially enjoyed the rehearsal footage! Thank you!
Great interview. I also enjoyed the video about it. Looking forward to watching.