Transfigured Night

score by Stephen Ingham
text by Douglas Horton
Instrumentation sop., mez., ten., 2 bar., vlc, cl/bass cl/sop sax, tpt/cor, perc, pf
A struggling composer of the 1920s who goes by the name of Arnold Schoenberg is given a Faustian opportunity to compose a new opera for a prestigious opera house. Nonetheless, his plans to create a new music, the first utterances of twentieth century modernism, are frustrated at every turn as, time and again, life imitates art. A satirical look at the making and unmaking of opera this century.
Stephen Ingham's compositional style is eclectic and wide-ranging. His electroacoustic opera No Straight Lines, which won the Carl Maria von Weber prize in Germany in 1994, was staged in Dresden in 1995.
"... a must see ... it's brilliant ..." The Herald Sun
World Premiere Victorian Arts Centre Playhouse, Melbourne, September 1998. Directed by Douglas Horton, musical direction by Warwick Stengards, designed by Richard Roberts, lighting design by Ben Cobham.