An Ocean of Rain, by Yannis Kyriakides and Daniel Dannis. Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Friday 13th June 2008.

The premier of an opera is always going to be an event to talk about. Imagine being present when Mozart’s The Magic Flute was first performed or, closer to home, Britten’s Noah’s Fludd?

At Snape Maltings Concert Hall, the 61st Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts opened with the world premiere of An Ocean of Rain by composer Yannis Kyriakides and librettist Daniel Dannis.

A modern performance of live music and singing, accompanied by a visual and audio soundtrack, the opera opened with the deafening sound of rain battering on the roof. Throughout the opera sound effects, combined with music, reminded us that we were in Haiti. A young prostitute, Kiev (played by Claire Prempeh) returns to the orphanage where she grew up to beg for sanctuary from her violent husband.  She is turned away by the matron, Delhi, (Hyacinth Nicholls) and, in desperation, sets fire to herself. Three volunteers, New York (Camille Hesketh), Cairo (Katalin Károlyi) and Kyoto (Anna Dennis,) help Delhi to care for the injured woman.

We are never sure if Kiev has actually died and is watching from the after-life, or if the story is being told in flashback, or it is all in her imagination.  The musicians, playing live on recorders, electric guitar, Indian harmonium, violin, double bass and trombone stood, with the conductor, centre stage on the beach where the story was set.
The lighting cast giant shadows and the video screens showed images of flotsam and jetsam, waves, children and, after the tsunami hits with a dramatic swirl of sound and movement, the dead bodies of the orphanage workers.

The music was challenging (the musicians usually playing a completely different tune from that being sung by the singers) and it was well performed, and staged, but this was a drama with no lighter moments, and the audience responded at the end with warm applause but no enthusiastic cheering.

Rachel Sloane
June 2008