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US Premiere of Richard Ayres’s No. 39 “The Cricket Recovers” at the Tanglewood Music Center

Jul. 15, 2019

US Premiere of Richard Ayres’s <em>No. 39 “The Cricket Recovers”</em> at the Tanglewood Music Center

On August 8, the Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Fellows and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, perform the US premiere of Richard Ayres’s No. 39 “The Cricket Recovers” at Seiji Ozawa Hall. This chamber opera, composed in 2005, is based on an award-winning collection of children’s stories by Dutch author Toon Tellegen, and is set to a libretto by Rozalie Hirs. The Cricket Recovers explores human struggles through a series of animal protagonists.

Richard Ayres's The Cricket Recovers transports us to an extraordinary forest in where all is not as it seems. The eponymous cricket wakes up one morning with a gloomy feeling in his head. His proceeding voyage of self-discovery to grapple with his depression with the help of his fellow animals is simultaneously entertaining and moving. The animals also help an elephant who can’t stop climbing trees. Yet as the sun comes up on a new day, the memories of the previous day vanish leaving only the wise Owl wondering what sort of world she inhabits.

 
(The Cricket Recovers at Holland Festival 2011; Asko|Schönberg Ensemble; Etienne Siebens; Pierre Audi)

Following its premiere with Aldeburgh Almeida Opera in 2005, the piece was hailed as “zany,” “anarchic,” and “a fizzy cocktail of hyperactivity, Baroque poise, Straussian pastiche, tantalizing tango and much more” (Evening Standard). The Cricket Recovers is a fascinating theatrical experience for both children and adults alike.


To learn more about Richard Ayres, visit schott-music.com. 

Richard Ayres
The Cricket Recovers (2005)
a chamber opera
libretto (Eng) by Rozalie Hirs, based on a story by Toon Tellegen
German translation by Mirjam Pressler
for 3 sopranos, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass
pic(fl, afl).Ebcl(Bbcl).bcl(Bbcl).cbsn(bsn)-2.2(1. In Bb, 2. In C).0.euph.0-timp.perc-3vn.db
70’

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