THE GRAND OLD CLIMATE OPRY

While Anthropocene may not be as bad as it sounds, readers seeking to enjoy better operas in support of a better cause are strongly urged to contact  The Committee for Opera at Syon

    Nature   Books & Arts

Frozen arias for the Anthropocene epoch

A new opera grapples with the impacts of
 climate change. Patrick Goymer reviews it.

Anthropocene

 Music: Stuart MacRae; Words: Louise Welsh Scottish Opera; Hackney Empire, 9 February 2019.

Stranded in a harsh, isolated environment, a small group of explorers begins to argue. Ultimately, the protagonists sink into despair, with potentially deadly consequences. This plot features in literary masterpieces from William Shakespeare’s 1611 The Tempest to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein. Now, an opera claiming both works as inspiration harnesses the idea to explore human-driven climate change.

Anthropocene, by composer Stuart MacRae and librettist Louise Welsh, is not the first opera to be inspired by environmental catastrophe. Giorgio Battistelli’s 2015 CO2, essentially a lecture set to music, was based on the blockbuster documentary featuring Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth (2006). MacRae’s three-act work is more of a thriller, nodding to science in references to ice cores, the aurora borealis and the human meddling with the environment that is name-checked in the title.

Here, however, the Anthropocene is not just the geological epoch that bears our grubby fingerprints; it is also the name of an Arctic research ship funded by a philanthropist, who voyages with his daughter to make profound but unspecified discoveries about the origins of life. The crew also includes two scientists, two sailors and a journalist. As in the 1914–17 expedition of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, the ship becomes stuck in ice as winter approaches, with ensuing repercussions.

The action centres around a woman the crew digs out of the ice. Improbably, she is alive. Dubbing her Ice, the group hails her as the scientific discovery of the century. Perhaps representing both hope and the risks of technological advance, she was — we learn — sacrificed during an earlier environmental crisis. However, the crew’s reaction to finding Ice is where the scientific credibility of the piece starts to fall down — not least in the hyperbolic comparison one member makes to the discoveries of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Marie Curie.

Musically, the opera fares much better. The score uses atonal and tonal passages that, with the minimalist white set, successfully evoke polar realms. The singing is excellent, notably from soprano Jennifer France as Ice, mezzo-soprano Sarah Champion as the philanthropist’s determined daughter and bass-baritone Paul Whelan as the ship’s captain.

FULL DISCLOSURE
While the proprietor of this blog served in  the company that won the 1995 Opera House Cup,  he has no conflict of interest to declare regarding taht competition, as i tis a classic  boat race.