Wilton's

Presented by Emma Jude Harris in association with Jessie Anand Productions

7th September to 11th September . 7.45pm .
£10 – £25 full price, £7.50 – £22.50 concessions
High summer in New Orleans: a battlefield tour group has waded through swamps and hurricane damage to see where notorious pirate Pierre Lafitte was imprisoned in 1814. Captivated, one tourist imagines the story of Lafitte’s escape. Could it be that love was his key to freedom? Or is that just wishful thinking from Mary, whose honeymoon is turning out to be less romantic than she'd hoped...? 

Incorporating folk and Creole influences, Cabildo is the only opera from pioneering composer Amy Beach, written in 1932 and not performed until after her death. Beach's repertoire and article 'To the Girl Who Wants to Compose' have inspired women in music for over a century.

In this production from director Emma Jude Harris, Cabildo is thrillingly re-conceived for the present to uncover the dark underside of the American Dream. It asks, can we ever memorialise the past without bringing back the things we would rather not remember? 

Cabildo arrives at Wilton’s Music Hall after an acclaimed run at Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Festival.

Music: Amy Beach
Libretto: Nan Bagby Stephens
Director: Emma Jude Harris
Musical director: Yshani Perinpanayagam
Set and costume designer: Zoë Hurwitz
Lighting designer: Lucy Adams
Projection designer: Adam Lenson
Production manager: Pete Rickards - eStage
Producer: Jessie Anand
Assistant director: Becca Chadder
Assistant producer: Tanya Truman
Associate designer: Constance Villemot
Stage managers: Luke Mason and Adam Woodhouse
Répétiteur - Cliódna Shanahan

Barker: Tashinga Bepete
Tom: Peter Martin
Mary: Helen Stanley
Pierre Lafitte / ensemble: Kieran Rayner
Lady Valerie / ensemble: Julieth Lozano
Dominique You / ensemble: Zwakele Tshabalala
Gaoler / ensemble: James Quilligan

Featuring the Del Mar Piano Trio
Piano - Yshani Perinpanayagam
Violin - Francesca Barritt
Cello - Morwenna Del Mar

Running time: 55 minutes, no interval


They like it

  • a real discovery

    ****. The Guardian

  • a witty, dynamic production of this passionate chamber piece glows with humanity and joy

    ****. theatreCat

  • a thrillingly sung staging

    The Stage

  • a strong, beautiful sense of despairing romance shoots through the work

    The Reviews Hub

  • Emma Jude Harris’ deft handling of Cabildo’s themes exemplifies how opera should engage in current social discourse…[it] feels like a great beacon of hope for the future of opera

    Miro Magazine

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