European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Tansy Davies's Between Worlds: "a piece of breathtaking beauty" at English National Opera

May. 05, 2015

Tansy Davies's <em>Between Worlds</em>: "a piece of breathtaking beauty" at English National Opera

Tansy Davies's highly anticipated new opera, Between Worlds, debuted at the Barbican Theatre in London on April 11 to resounding acclaim. A bold and highly individual response to the events of 9/11, the opera has been called “a remarkable piece of work (The Telegraph),” and a piece “of breathtaking beauty (The Independent).”

Commissioned by English National Opera, the opera brought Davies together with librettist Nick Drake and acclaimed director Deborah Warner to create a sensitive and uniquely profound work with universal resonance. A disparate group of individuals are trapped high up in one of the Twin Towers, caught between earth and heaven, life and death. As the opera progresses, it opens out to a universal panorama of human beings in extremis.

Between Worlds in the press:

Between Worlds at times tears at the heart... That spirit realm is brilliantly suggested by a glassy musical texture uncannily flecked with rhythmic tics, suggesting that ‘spirit’ already knows the disaster is coming… the music never shrieks at us. The desperation ruffles the surface of Davies’s music, which remains essentially meditative... a remarkable piece of work.
–The Telegraph (Ivan Hewett), 12 April 2015

Davies’s orchestration is atmospheric and the harmonies and textures of the music build tension effectively... Davies at times reaches that place of emotional embodiment that only music can capture, and wraps it in a dark yet cathartic embrace.
– The Arts Desk (Jessica Duchen), 12 April 2015

Davies’s delicately-inflected sound-world creates an all-embracing ambience...The psychological truth of this inexorable drama – which perfectly observes the unities of Greek tragedy – comes across with awesome power... this beautiful and extraordinary work leaves you transfixed. It may be an operatic debut, but it announces Tansy Davies as the most original new voice in the game.
– The Independent (Michael Church), 12 April 2015

The dangers of writing an opera about 9/11 — sensationalism and sentimentality among them — are obvious. But Davies and Drake succeed in obviating those particular risks... Davies’s score is a fabulously inventive aural fabric...a resonant, multi- layered work...’
– The London Evening Standard (Barry Millington), 13

Details on the production can be found at eno.org.

Visit fabermusic.com for more information on Tansy Davies.

Tansy Davies
Between Worlds (2014)
an opera in 11 scenes
libretto (Eng) by Nick Drake
for countertenor, 4 sopranos, 3 mezzo-sopranos, 4 tenors, 2 baritones, bass-baritone and boy singer
2(2.afl, pic).2.2(2.Ebcl).bcl.0-2.1.0.btbn.1-timp.2perc-hp-str
90’

News