Rotary Melbourne’s Arts Committee recently promoted the performance of a new opera, Pieces of Margery, by Melbourne composer May Lyon and librettist Julia Vogel. Dealing with the issue of dementia, the performance was premiered by More Than Opera, a company founded by David Kram AM and chaired by Tony Battaini.
It is increasingly evident arts companies have a role to play in exploring the big issues facing society. Dementia is the ABS second leading cause of death in Australia after heart disease, Dementia Australia estimates 420,000 Australians are currently living with the illness and 1.6 million people are involved in caring for their loved ones.
The audience was transfixed by the intensity and poignancy of the story as it unfolded, giving the performance a sustained standing ovation. The following extracts are from the review by Paul Selar in the Australian Arts Review:
https://artsreview.com.au/more-than-opera-pieces-of-margery/
“In a new operatic work, Pieces of Margery builds a story around an aging woman’s confrontation and battle with a diagnosis of dementia, of the challenges faced in navigating it and the rippling effects on the people around her. Presented by Melbourne’s More Than Opera in a premiere concert performance, across 80 absorbing minutes, Lyon and Vogel’s work resonates deeply.
Pieces of Margery is powerful in its directness and touching in its portrayal of dementia’s cruel and invasive nature. Broken down into eight scenes, the work is scored for a small chamber orchestra. The music deftly charges the narrative, with a particularly notable wealth of evocative and potent strings and inventive use of percussion.
Mood is quick to change in May’s sound world of picture-building seduction. Musically, a sparking, restless and penetrating dissonance cleverly accompanies Margery’s personal nightmare against the often spare, ponderous music underpinning Leonard’s own fears, heartache and grief. Three exceptionally moving arias demonstrate that.
In front of an audience of around 200, the work was realised with glowing performances and sung with intense consideration and welcome subtle exchanges between the singers.
Riggall employed her richly detailed and succulent mezzo-soprano superbly in crafting a beautiful, multi-dimensional persona of Margery.
As Leonard, Tonkin flexed his handsomely burnished and muscular baritone in a great assortment of dynamic touches, including meeting the score’s demands with an especially impressive and unforgettably soul-stirring, paper-thin falsetto.
Tamburini’s impactful stage presence and firm and authoritative bass-baritone perfectly suited the coercive Dr Briggs while Bolton and O’Leary added peripheral vocal highlights not only as Ellie and Frank but as patient cafe owner Kala and her quirky assistant Tom.
Centre-stage, conductor Patrick Burns steered the work with palpable feeling and his 11 musicians obliged in fine form led by excellent first violinist Kyla Matsuura Miller.
Lyon and Vogel, along with More Than Opera, are to be commended for realising an operatic work focussed on a social issue that affects so many.”
