- Oliver Leith (b. 1990): Last Days, Prologue:
- 1 Leith: Last Days, Prologue 03:18
- 2 Leith: Last Days, Prologue, Scene 1: Blake in the Wilderness 04:21
- 3 Leith: Last Days, Prologue, Scene 2: Home 01:22
- 4 Leith: Last Days, Prologue, Scene 3: Wisdom of Birds 06:21
- Last Days, Act 1:
- 5 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 1: Trip Calls 01:11
- 6 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 2: A Package 02:37
- 7 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 3: Blake Listens to Opera 04:51
- 8 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 4: Confusion 05:02
- 9 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 5: Friberg and Friberg 01:39
- 10 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 6: He Said 03:40
- 11 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 7: Chorus of Things 07:13
- 12 Leith: Last Days, Act 1, Scene 8: The Magician Story 05:31
- Last Days, Act 2:
- 13 Leith: Last Days, Act 2, Scene 1: Trip Calls Again 01:29
- 14 Leith: Last Days, Act 2, Scene 2: His Understudy 02:44
- 15 Leith: Last Days, Act 2, Scene 3: The Party 06:07
- 16 Leith: Last Days, Act 2, Scene 4: The Super-fan 04:33
- 17 Leith: Last Days, Act 2, Scene 5: Blake cleans the stage 04:01
- Last Days, Act 3:
- 18 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 1: Blake in the Wilderness 01:25
- 19 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 2: Trip Calls Again Again 00:53
- 20 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 3: P.I. in the Wilderness 01:58
- 21 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 4: The Magic Trick 01:45
- 22 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 5: Intervention 04:01
- 23 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 6: Abandoning Blake 03:30
- 24 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 7: Voyage 06:41
- 25 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 8: Death 05:33
- 26 Leith: Last Days, Act 3, Scene 8b: Death Part II 03:59
Info for Oliver Leith: Last Days
The opera tells the story of Blake, a musician who has recently escaped rehab to return home. But he is haunted by objects, visitors and memories distracting him from his true purpose – self-destruction.
In her West End debut, French actor Agathe Rousselle takes on the non-singing role of Blake. She is joined on stage by sopranos Patricia Auchterlonie as Superfan and Mimi Doulton as Delivery Driver and Housemate, mezzo-soprano Kate Howden as Mormon and Housemate, tenor Seumas Begg as Mormon and Housemate, bass Sion Goronwy as Groundskeeper and Private Investigator, baritone Edmund Danon as Housemate, and actor Henry Jenkinson in the non-singing role of Magician. Auchterlonie, Doulton and Goronwy are all alumni of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Composer Leith, who describes himself as a huge Nirvana fan, commented: “Everything in the world of Last Days is musical – from cereal bowls to bin bags – except for Blake, our lead, who simply mumbles. The music mumbles and murmurs too in a bittersweet haze.
“The pit score is written for my long-time collaborators, 12 Ensemble (strings), George Barton (percussion) and Siwan Rhys (piano/synthesiser), together creating a very particular quality – trying to make the opera sound like it might look.”
Librettist Copson added: “I wrote Last Days as an existential farce. A tragedy infused with both the absurdities and banality of death and life. A battleground of the contradictions which form the world around us playing out in the maze of an opera. I hope it’s a total assault on the senses.”
"Conducted by Jack Sheen, the orchestra combines the strings of 12 Ensemble with the percussion and keyboards of GBSR Duo, George Barton and Siwan Rhys to provide textures that range from dense dark harmonies to single instrumental lines, which are enhanced by sampled sounds ranging from faux birdsong to breakfast cereal being poured into a bowl. In the final minutes of the opera, though, all that’s left is a bleak processional, in a work that, for all its beauties, otherwise keeps its characters strictly at arm’s length." (The Guardian)
Mimi Doulton, soprano
Kate Howden, mezzo-soprano
Patricia Auchterlonie, soprano
Edmund Danon, baritone
Seumas Begg, tenor
Sion Goronwy, bass
Jimmy Holliday, bass
Agathe Rousselle, vocals
Caroline Polachek, vocals
Tom Kelly, vocals
Sean Shibe, guitar
Cole Morrison, double bass
GBSR Duo
12 Ensemble
Jack Sheen, conductor
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