Breathwork
commissioned by the Irish National Opera as part of their 2023/2024 Season
This intimate new opera by the multi-talented Éna Brennan (aka Dowry) — composer, arranger, violinist and graphic designer — is a statement of horror and protest in response to the destruction of our environment.
Breathwork, with a text by Olivier award-winning director David Pountney, offers a foretaste of a larger operatic collaboration that will premiere at Austria’s Bregenz Festival next year.
28-30 Sept, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 7pm, 8pm & 9pm
Running time 15-20 minutes. Six performances daily.
Sung in English.
‘Breathwork’ is a companion work to a larger composition ‘Hold Your Breath’ by Éna Brennan and David Pountney which has been commissioned by Bregenzer Festspiele. More info here.
CAST
Kelli-Ann Masterson (Soprano), Michelle O'Rourke (Mezzo-soprano) & Andrew Gavin (Tenor)
CREATIVE TEAM
Director – John McIlduff
Music Director – Karen Ní BhroinMusic
Set & Costume Design – Sabine Dargent
Lighting Design – Alan Mooney
“★★★★ – ...excellent design, superlative voices and superb music...”
“Brennan’s soundscape is tonal patchwork. Snatches of musical ideas emerge from around the studio via live voice and speakers and recorded sound effects, the score creating a desolate petrified landscape on the brink of extinction.”
“★★★½ – serene and beautiful... a delicate vision”
Listen back to RTE Arena 15th September 2023
“★★★ – Breathwork, Éna Brennan’s new work for Irish National Opera, presents a spectacular contrast between extreme intimacy of performance and the vast, global scale of its primary theme, environmental destruction.”
“Breathwork is a work of indictment and culpability and warning. Its message is not new. It’s not hopeless, but it grapples with the urgency and seriousness of the moment. At the end, the audience in the dark faces each other alone. We did this. It’s not enough for that to be known and understood. It has to be felt.”
Recording session in Windmill Lanes Recording Studios
Conductor: Karen Ní Bhroin
Tenor: Andrew Gavin
Mezzo: Michelle O’Rourke
Soprano: Kelli-Ann Masterson
Violin: Sarah Sew
Cello: Brian O’Kane
Trumpet: Eric Castillo Mora
Trombone: Ross Lyness