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- Richard Mills
The Butterfly Lovers (2022)
- Wise Music G. Schirmer Australia Pty Ltd (World)
Programme Note
In a famous Chinese legend, doomed lovers find freedom when their spirits transform into butterflies.
Yingtai disguises herself as a boy to pursue an education. On the way to commence her studies, she meets Shanbo and they become friends. Confused by their growing attraction, they eventually succumb to their love. But Yingtai is destined for an arranged marriage. Only as butterflies can they be together forever.
In an international collaboration between Victorian Opera and Singapore’s Wild Rice theatre, Richard Mills has composed a new opera with a libretto by playwright Joel Tan. Directed by one of Asia’s greatest theatre-makers, Ivan Heng, expect the colour and sound of Chinese culture fused with traditions of opera.
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Mills, whose other operas include Batavia and The Love of the Nightingale, has composed an intriguingly textured score for The Butterfly Lovers. It leans romantic, so while the Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra is only 13-strong, it includes a harp and the chime-like celeste piano. Most notable, however, are two traditional Chinese instruments: the pipa (lute) and dizi (flute). Their distinctive sounds dominate at times, but the overall effect is a harmonious blend of Eastern and Western music.
This new telling offers both fidelity to the traditions of Chinese opera and a distinctly contemporary edge. The libretto, composed by Joel Tan, is sung in modern English, while Richard Mills’ cinematic score flits from folk-influenced musical textures conjured up by the pipa (Chinese lute) and dizi (Chinese flutes) to vast gestures of musical harmony.
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- Wishing Richard Mills a Happy Birthday
- 13th November 2024
- Wishing Richard Mills a Happy Birthday