Culture Project #2

Using theatrical treatments of new or existing works, we engage opera to stimulate awareness, reflection and provoke debate on current social justice or humanitarian issues.  Aside from its cultural importance as a work of English & Japanese sensibilities, CURLEW RIVER is a revelation, as it dispenses with universal tempo; the chief compositional technique in Curlew River is heterophony - a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line - and in the telling of this story is used to extraordinary dramatic effect.

With textures derived from short, decorative couplings and long, unsynchronised layers of melody, the anguish and grief that manifests as madness is captured intellectually, and aesthetically. A recognised masterpiece that is rarely performed, originally intended for an all-male cast, Curlew River is a calculated choice to capture both the young performers and our audience in challenging and
surprising but accessible music to engage in