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Doyle's Heresy

Heresy is the world premiere and first opera by renowned Irish composer, Roger Doyle. Doyle, considered 'The Godfather of Irish Electronic Music', speaks of his vast body of compositions as 'a celebration of the multiplicity of musical languages and evolving technologies'.

Based in Dublin, Meta Productions was founded in 2013 by Roger Doyle and Eric Fraad. It is committed to exploring new forms of opera for the 21st century and creating works that live within the best traditions of opera, reformulating these in innovative and unique ways.

Meta Productions has assembled a dazzling team of artists for this unique operatic extravaganza: libretto by playwright and dramaturg Jocelyn Clarke and world renowned American director Eric Fraad, with sets and costumes by internationally acclaimed Austrian Bruno Schwengl and lighting design by the Abbey Theatre's Kevin McFadden.

The ensemble cast features Morgan Crowley (tenor / countertenor), Caitriona O'Leary (mezzo soprano), Daire Halpin (soprano), Robert Crowe (male soprano) and Aengus Gilligan (boy soprano). These early and contemporary music specialists each undertake a diversity of roles during the performance.

For anyone who dares to voice dangerous ideas and risk imprisonment or exile, Giordano Bruno remains a hero and a martyr for free speech and the right to challenge dogma and orthodoxy. Giordano Bruno (called The Nolan), originally named Filippo Bruno (born 1548, Nola, near Naples; burned at the stake 17 February 1600 in the Campo dei Fiori, Rome) was an Italian renaissance philosopher, priest, professor, playwright and occultist whose theories anticipated modern science. His writings prefigured quantum theory by 350 years and influenced numerous works by Shakespeare, Molière and James Joyce for whom Bruno remained a lifelong hero.

Heresy focuses on episodes from Bruno's life and features fantastic scenes that allow for great theatricality and emotional effect. Scenes are presented in which Bruno demonstrates his system of magic memory before the court of Henry III of France, confidential conversations with Elizabeth I of England and her spymaster Sir Francis Wallsingham, expositions of his trials in Rome and Venice before the inquisition, fragments of his outrageous play, Il Candelaio, a dramatic reverie in his cell the night before he is burned at the stake for heresy and scenes that time travel to the present day and beyond as he trail blazes amongst the deities in the cosmos and predicts the future. Throughout this operatic adventure, Mr Doyle's electronic score complements this scorching story by incorporating many qualities of a traditional orchestra while providing far-reaching dramatic and musical possibilities that go beyond normative operatic instrumentation.

Heresy is being presented as part of Project 50, a season of innovative work celebrating fifty years of Dublin's Project Arts Centre. The opera will be broadcast live on RTÉ Lyric fm.

Performances, all at 7.30pm, are on 28 (preview) and 29 October, 1, 2, 4 and 5 November 2016 at Project Arts Centre, 36 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tickets 25 euros (concessions 18 euros) from +353 1 881 9613.

Information: www.metaproductions.ie

Posted: 2 October 2016

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