Lord Byron, A summer without summer


Lord Byron, un estiu sense estiu, opera of the Catalan
composer, Agustí Charles, and the dramaturge, Marc Rosich, is the result of a
commission by the Darmstadt Staatstheater, programmed for their 2010/2011
season. In this same theatre La Cuzzoni, esperpent d’una veu, a chamber
opera about an 18th Century prima donna, a commission of the Barcelona Pocket
Opera Festival, was premiered in 2007 with great success. Charles, who trained
in Barcelona, continued his studies in Europe and America. He has a brilliant
record as a composer receiving many important prizes (amongst which is that of
the Asociación de Orquestras Sinfónicas Españolas (AEOS) for Seven Looks, which
was performed throughout Spain between 2004 and 2008) and also as a
musicologist. He is a professor at the Aragon Conservatorio Superior de
Música and at ESMUC, the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. His
music has been performed the world over.
The libretto of Marc Rosich sets the action of the opera in Europe after the
defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. At the same time as this event, the volcano
Tambora became active in the Pacific Ocean and from it a toxic cloud of ash
erupted which crossed the entire planet upsetting the natural seasonal order.
The cloud reached Geneva in the summer of 1816 bringing with it alarming
storms, and so trapping a curious group of exiles in their summer villas,, the
group including Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, his lover Mary, her
step-sister Claire Clairmont, and Doctor Polidori. The fruit of this encounter
in the middle of the “summer without summer” was two of the most important
texts of Gothic literature, Frankenstein and The Vampire.
The orchestra, chorus and soloists create an enveloping sound space which
places the public in the middle of the opera, from the staging, which also
functions as a powerful instrument to the percussion, placed in the theatre
itself, along with a subtle amplification which makes it possible to enter the
subconscious of the protagonists and read their obsessions. In short, this is a
dramatic experience that allows us to get under the very skin of the
protagonists.
Music: Agustí Charles
Libretto: Marc Rosich
Premiere at the Staatstheater Darmstadt on March 12, 2011
Gran Teatre del Liceu June 25, 27 and 28, 2011
Conductor Martin Lukas Meister
Stage director Alfonso Romero Mora
Set design & light design Dirk Becker
Costume design Gabriela Salaverri
Conductor of chorus Staatstheater Darmstadt André Weiss
Conductor of chorus Gran Teatre del Liceu José Luís Basso
Cast
Lord Byron Gerson Sales
John William Polidori Malte Godglück
Percy B. Shelley Norbert Schmittberg
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Muriel Schwarz
Claire Clairmont Margaret Rose Koenn
William Fletcher Lasse Penttinen
A co-production by
Staatstheater Darmstadt , Gran teatre del Liceu and Teatros del Canal
Supported by
Consell Nacional de la Cultura i de les Arts (CoNCA) and Generalitat de Catalunya