ORATORIO Messages and Translation

Oratorio is West Australian Opera’s third collaboration with Conservatorium of Music at the University of Western Australia and presents an important opportunity to nurture the next generation of singers and musicians.

We are proud to re-imagine the possibilities of our art form and present new music in works such J.S. Bach’s Easter Oratorio (1725) with new music from WA composer Lachlan Skipworth. We are grateful to work with director Margrete Helgeby Chaney and lighting designer Mark Haslam working with Bella Marslen, Jillian Halleron, Jake Bigwood, Ry Charleston and the UWA Symphonic Chorus and Symphony Orchestra conducted by Chris van Tuinen.

Whether this is your first performance with West Australian Opera or a return visit, we hope it is a memorable experience for you and we thank you for supporting West Australian Opera. 

Carolyn Chard AM
Executive Director
West Australian Opera

Oratorios (as opposed to masses) are operas in disguise, they use orchestras, chorus, and soloists to tell a story and explore the emotions of characters. Some of them are linear stories, some focus on different angles or perspectives, some of them even have sound effects and dancing.

Historically, they were sacred stories and so reserved for churches and then concert halls, far from the sacrilegious theatre world. In poaching them I hope we’re celebrating some of the greatest music and storytelling in the canon, using movement, staging, and lighting to realise the evocation of the spirit that lies inside these pieces.

Alongside that is a desire to see what this means for our time and through our music. We’re delighted to bring the world premiere of Lachlan Skipworth’s music to the stage, a wonderful experience for all the company and a beautiful new world of sound to explore.

Lastly my thanks to all at UWA for their support and enthusiasm, the staff and students of this world class institution are always keen to explore, push the boundaries and have new experiences – all in the name of learning. May that never change.

Chris van Tuinen
Artistic Director / Conductor (ORATORIO)
West Australian Opera

We are delighted to be once again partnering with the West Australian Opera – one of the country’s premier arts organisations – to present these stunning works in a theatrical performance. The opportunity for future professional students to work with the current professional musicians has a profound effect on their understanding of the demands of the profession.  

The University of Western Australia and Winthrop Hall have been at the centre of WA cultural life for more than 100 years. Bringing to life for the first time a new work by UWA alumni Lachlan Skipworth in this iconic hall is a true joy. To see the creative life of the state reinvigorated by these joint projects by West Australian Opera, working with the new generation of artists, is exciting and rewarding.

Alan Lourens
Head of School
UWA Conservatorium of Music

The prospect of writing music to sit next to Bach’s Easter Oratorio caused me no small amount of apprehension when I was asked to contribute to this project. However it was the sheer impossibility of the task, if only perceived, that enticed me to accept the challenge immediately. Of course I knew I had to write my music, but I needed a compelling reason to justify it being there. Immediately, something felt rather superfluous about the idea of inserting my music before or between the Bach movements. Soon I began to focus on Bach’s recitatives, not only due to their extreme brevity, but also because they seemed to touch on significant themes and plot points that might warrant further investigation. So I decided on a recomposition of each, keeping the same text but creating a new musical setting.

O kalter Männer Sinn! dwells on the text’s themes of grief and sorrow, while Hier ist die Gruft portrays the sense of wonder on discovering the resurrection. Indessen seufzen wir uses long, searching melodic lines to induce the yearning and anticipation of in waiting to see Jesus reborn. Finally in Wir sind erfreut, we spend time in a contemplation of sorrow before the work rises and calls us to “forget the pain and think on songs of joy”.

Lachlan Skipworth
Composer (ORATORIO)

Bach’s Easter Oratorio, born as a birthday cantata for a Duke, re-worked six weeks later for the service on Easter Sunday has lived through many iterations since 1725. It’s exciting to be working with the immense talent and graciousness of Lachlan Skipworth to conjure yet another iteration; one that is framed by contemporary sensibilities and sensitivities and yet still honouring that universal search for redemption.

Winthrop Hall is the perfect venue for this semi-staging of the Oratorio and it is a real treat to work with the students here.

The similarities between the core themes of the story of the resurrection and those that broadly exist in humanity, regardless of creed, are where we have focussed our creative discussions: to redeem and be redeemed, to experience hope, doubt, longing, yearning, to experience the reverie of being in the presence of real beauty, to betray, to deny, to feel love that is pure and all-encompassing and, because it is just that, hurts deeply.

Chris van Tuinen created a great moment when he gave Lachlan the licence to consider the recitatives anew. Suddenly we were looking at a World Premiere of a work that had been performed for the last 298 years.

This semi-staged production, collaborating with Lachlan and lighting designer, Mark Haslam, was never going to be a narration, but an evocation. An evocation of the way the universal themes make us feel, not the events per se. The performers, musicians, lighting, staging and reconsidered recitatives have a task; and that, we hope, is to facilitate a state of repose that allows the audience to reflect, to feel. To that end we are not including any surtitles in these performances, the English text for both the Bach and the Skipworth are available above. Where you see text highlighted in bold, these are the specific words that either Lachlan or I have focussed on within that particular number.

We hope you experience an hour in which the Bach carries you as it always has, and that the Skipworth carries you even further. Wherever you arrive, and however you arrive there, redemption, while the language of religious texts is a quality that also lies in the hands of each and every one of us.

Margrete Helgeby Chaney
Director (ORATORIO)