SCOTSMAN

Lammermuir Festival review: Catriona and the Dragon, Dunbar Parish Church - 27/03/23

Long on spectacle and infernally catchy tunes, Catriona and the Dragon’s long-awaited premiere is an Easter treat.

Performers Arthur Bruce, Nora Trew-Rae and Andrea Baker

Catriona and the Dragon, Dunbar Parish Church ****
A little bit of the usually September-timed Lammermuir Festival came early – or maybe a few years late, as festival co-director James Waters explained in his brief intro. Community opera Catriona and the Dragon had originally been planned for – yes, you guessed it, 2020, and it was receiving its long-awaited premiere as an Easter treat three years later.

And what a treat it was, for the hordes of performers packed into every available space of Dunbar Parish Church, and for the friends, family and other audience members who’d flocked to see them. Librettist Laura Attridge and composer Lliam Paterson had fashioned a timely tale of self-determination, responsibility and eco-awareness about a teenage Queen and a dragon living across the ‘bridge to nowhere’ in nearby Belhaven Bay. Some of the subtleties of the storyline might have got a bit lost in delivery, but this was all about spectacle – from the septet of pipers from the ELC Senior Piping Ensemble who jolted the show into action, to the enormous orchestra of professionals and youngsters under Sian Edwards’s enthusiastic direction, and most of all the dozens of singers, young and old(er), playing unruly schoolkids, noisy protesters and terrified townspeople.

Nora Trew-Rae was impressively petulant (though a little under-used) as the reluctant Queen, though Andrea Baker and Arthur Bruce were both brilliantly clear, vivid and outspoken as courtiers-cum-narrators, propelling the plot along nicely. It was the multi-tasking Catriona Hewitson, though, who stole the show with soaring, liquid-silver vocal lines as (among other roles) a smouldering, diva-ish dragon and a put-upon teacher. Composer Paterson gave all the singers – professional and amateur – plenty to work with, in catchy (sometimes infernally catchy) music that doffed its cap to Janáček and Stravinsky while retaining a distinctive voice all its own. By its rousing, hymn-like ending and eco-friendly sign-off, Catriona and the Dragon had generated a warm glow of satisfaction. David Kettle

scotsman.com

VOX CARNYX

LAMMERMUIR: CATRIONA AND THE DRAGON - 06/04/23

Picture of Catriona Hewitson in rehearsal with the cast by Rob McDougall

The fact that Lammermuir Festival kept faith with its latest community opera project for four years, through all the prohibitions of the pandemic, makes celebrating it something that overrides any conflict of interest I may have in doing that for VoxCarnyx.

My son, baritone Arthur Bruce, was one of three professional singers involved, alongside mezzo Andrea Baker and – in a demanding multiplicity of roles – soprano Catriona Hewitson. They would concede that the show was not about them, however, as they voiced the story-telling alongside a huge cast of local people, from adults to young primary schoolchildren, singing, acting and playing most of the orchestral instruments.

Conducted by Sian Edwards, who marshalled their varying skill-levels with impressive aplomb, the orchestra was led by Katie Hull. It was in itself a fascinating development of the McOpera ensemble established by Scottish Opera players when their staff contracts became part-time, with musicians from the SCO, Maxwell Quartet, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and elsewhere as principals.

Composer Lliam Paterson and librettist Laura Attridge had risen to the challenge of giving everyone in this diverse company an important part to play in a narrative that used local folklore and had a lucid, and unpatronising environmental message. Not only were all the young participants on board for the anthemic chorus at the end, but a child of no more than one in front of me was engrossed by it all.

Leading the community cast in the role of Queen Catriona, Nora Trew-Rae not only revealed a fine voice as the show evolved, but also put in a good number of laps of the auditorium in an energetic performance. That physicality ran through the project and the directors – Attridge, Moira Morrison (Chorus Director), and Ian West (Movement) – achieved wonders of co-ordination. It was Hewitson who often provided the icing on the cake, especially in her soaring singing of the Dragon, but also with some startlingly fast changes of costume.
The climactic confrontation between the Queen and the beast happens off-stage, reported and enacted by her courtiers, Carruthers and Colquhoun (Baker and Bruce). That is a device that can be traced back to ancient tales like Beowulf, but it perhaps lacked a little dramaturgical – rather than performative – style to be a complete success here, solely because it was the only time there were so few people onstage.

It hardly mattered, though, as the chorus quickly returned for that moving Anthem for East Lothian. The county, and Lammermuir Festival, can be justly proud of its talented people, making such a vibrant show in this terrific wee venue. Keith Bruce

voxcarnyx.com

THE EDINBURGH REPORTER

World premier of Catriona and the Dragon performed to sell out audiences - 08/04/23

The world premier performances of Catriona and the Dragon were held in Dunbar Parish Church this week and both dates were a sell-out.

What is even better is that the audiences said they loved the Lammermuir Festival’s new community opera for East Lothian. There are as yet no plans for further performances but it was such a hit it is likely to happen. Watch this space. And have a look at the Lammermuir Festival website where the programme for 7 to 18 September is coming together.

Conductor Sian Edwards conducts a wonderful ensemble cast featuring former Scottish Opera Emerging Artists Catriona Hewiston (soprano) and Arthur Bruce (baritone) with internationally acclaimed British American dramatic mezzo and local East Lothian resident Andrea Baker (Sing Sistah Sing!) in her first Scottish operatic role. They are joined by young local singer Nora Trew-Rae, Kodaly-trained youth chorus Dunbar Voices, a community chorus of local adults, young people and children and an orchestra of young musicians from the East Lothian Instrumental Music Service supported by professional musicians of McOpera and alumni of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Phyllis Stephen

theedinburghreporter.co.uk

SCOTSMAN

Andrea Baker on Catriona and the Dragon: ‘I don’t often get the chance to play giggly, fun parts’ - 27/03/23

Ahead of the world premiere of Lliam Paterson and Laura Attridge’s new opera Catriona and the Dragon, mezzo-soprano Andrea Baker tells Ken Walton she’s looking forward to breaking the fourth wall

It’s only a couple of weeks since mezzo-soprano Andrea Baker was at the opening of the Glasgow Short Film Festival for a screening of OMOS, a film by production company Pollyanna celebrating historic black performance in Scotland, in which she plays a real-life black actor from the 16th century Scottish Court of James VI.

“There’s a potential link to Shakespeare in that story,” says the versatile Massachusetts-born singer, actor and broadcaster who, since 2005, has orchestrated her globetrotting career from East Lothian, where she lives with her Inverness-born husband.

“An event in Stirling Castle in 1594 was supposed to feature a live lion, but they decided it would scare the guests,” she expands. “One of the actors happened to be black, so they switched from the live lion to the actor pulling a cart on all-fours into the Grand Hall. There’s a lion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, relating to Puck, with similarities to that incident, so some scholars reckon Shakespeare may have known of this incident and adapted it.”

The OMOS film project, fascinating though it is, is just one strand of Baker’s rich creative tapestry. When we spoke, she was fresh from singing in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Germany’s Theater Chemintz. Meanwhile, she’d found time to take her critically-acclaimed solo celebration of the African-American female voice, Sing Sistah Sing!, to Boston. She’s also a frequent presenter on BBC Radio.

Next up is a challenge right on her doorstep. Rooted in the opera world she originally trained for, and taking her into the heart of her adopted East Lothian community, Baker’s latest project is Catriona and the Dragon by Scots composer Lliam Paterson and librettist Laura Attridge, an ambitious environmentally-themed community opera initiated by the Lammermuir Festival and McOpera. Baker is part of its integrated cast of amateurs and professionals.

Over two performances on 5 April in Dunbar Parish Church, Sian Edwards conducts the world premiere, which features talented young local singer Nora Trew-Rae alongside former Scottish Opera Young Generation Artists – the now well-seasoned Catriona Hewitson and Arthur Bruce – and a combined adult and children’s chorus that includes chorus director Moira Morrison’s Dunbar Voices. Local youngsters from the East Lothian Council Instrumental Music Service also rank among an instrumental ensemble supported by the professionals of McOpera and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland alumni.

Amazingly, this is Baker’s first fully-immersed involvement with an opera production specifically created in Scotland. “I’ve sung it here quite a bit, but it’s been either semi-staged or imported through an international company. My one fully-staged performance was in Porgy and Bess for the Edinburgh International Festival, but that was with Opéra Lyon. I’ve sung a semi-staged Walküre and West Side Story, but this is the first actual opera from start to finish I’ve been hired to do here, so I’m pretty excited.”

So is its writer and director Attridge. Conceived by her in collaboration with Paterson, the tale centres on Catriona, the reluctant ruler of a kingdom threatened by a fearsome dragon. The queen (played by Trew-Rae) overcomes her apprehension in tackling the dragon only to realise that the real blight affecting her kingdom lies elsewhere.
“It contains both environmental and political messages that will affect the future of young people and communities directly, the questions they’re asking,” Attridge believes. “Yet it’s not just important for them to simply express these. An opera like this allows them to engage in the actual process – a journey through rehearsal, collaborative performance and the interaction with the audience. I think both process and product are really powerful ways for communities to engage.”

Baker, who plays Carruthers, one of the two courtiers, would agree. “Mentorship is really important to me,” she says, which involves sharing that same joy and excitement of opera that obsessed her as a young girl. “My stage partner is sung by baritone Arthur Bruce. We break the fourth wall and interpret what’s happening in the story, so it’s very much like [comedic ice skating duo] Frick and Frack.”

“As a dramatic mezzo-soprano I don’t often get the chance to play giggly, fun parts,” she adds. Her infectious enthusiasm and charm will doubtless inspire everyone involved.
The world premiere of Catriona and the Dragon is at Dunbar Parish Church on 5 April. Ken Walton

scotsman.com

EAST LOTHIAN COURIER

SCHOOLCHILDREN and amateur singers united to create a new opera for the East Lothian community.

Performances of Catriona and the Dragon at Dunbar Parish Church saw Lammermuir Festival and McOpera once again working together, after the success of previous community operas Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in 2016 and An Cadal Trom by Matthew Rooke in 2018.

Joining a professional cast of opera soloists and musicians, and conductor Sian Edwards, Catriona and the Dragon aimed to deliver professional mentoring, community pride and new skills via a cross-disciplinary and inter-generational operatic project.

The project presented some complex political and environmental issues within a fairytale world, appropriate for the very young to the most senior members of the community, created by composer Lliam Paterson and librettist and director Laura Attridge.

The story followed Catriona as the reluctant ruler of the Kingdom of Beagland, her people threatened with destruction by a fearsome dragon beyond the Bridge to Nowhere.
After fleeing her responsibilities, she ultimately finds the courage to cross over to the beast’s lair, sword in hand.

When she returns, miraculously alive, she summons the citizens of the land to her court to tell them what she has discovered about the real blight in Beagland…
Conductor Sian Edwards was joined by a cast featuring former Scottish Opera Emerging Artists Catriona Hewiston (soprano) and Arthur Bruce (baritone), with internationally acclaimed British American dramatic mezzo and local East Lothian resident Andrea Baker (Sing Sistah Sing!) in her first Scottish operatic role.

eastlothiancourier.com

From Parents and Audience

Who would have thought that pipes could be incorporated into an orchestra. Brilliant!

What you combined through music, storytelling, graffiti, culture and relationships struck me as being a meaningful, powerful mental health intervention!

It was astounding - the powerfulness of the community, the collaboration between children and adults, the confidence and passion of children, and the storyline itself was so memorable.

It is going to be hard to go back to normal life after this! A sincere thank you for possibly a life changing opportunity for our young people.

Catriona and the Dragon’s operatic journey in East Lothian began with two outreach projects which creatively engaged with over 1200 children, young people and adults within the local community. Delivered in collaboration with the East Lothian Council Instrumental Music Service and the East Lothian Council Arts Service, the Anthem for East Lothian event and the primary school Let’s Make An Opera programme supported the regrowth of music-making in the wake of Covid-19. 

An Anthem for East Lothian – Haddstock Festival May 2022

On 29th May 2022, the East Lothian Council Instrumental Music Service hosted An Anthem for East Lothian in collaboration with Lammermuir Festival, under the baton of renowned conductor Sian Edwards. This huge ensemble came together to mark the start of an exciting new partnership between East Lothian Council Instrumental Music Service, East Lothian Arts Services Youth Music Initiative and Lammermuir Festival in preparation for Catriona and the Dragon in 2023.

The Anthem was commissioned for the East Lothian Council’s Instrumental Music Service by Lammermuir Festival, with music by Lliam Paterson (arranged by Peter Kemp) and words by Laura Attridge. It premiered in St Mary’s Church in Haddington as part of the Haddstock 2022 Festival. 

Photo by Andrew Moncrieff

This project brought together instrumentalists and singers from across the county to perform together in a celebration of ‘who we are and where we live’. East Lothian Council’s Instrumental Music Service Symphony Orchestra, Instrumental Music Service Pipers and Instrumental Music Service Instructors were joined by Preston Lodge High School Pipe Band, professional musicians from McOpera, Dunbar Voices and an Anthem Community Choir of local children, young people and adults.

Rehearsed and performed in a single day, this was one of the largest ensembles to take to the stage in Scotland since the start of the pandemic.

Sound production students from Edinburgh College attended the performance on 29th May to record the project and mix the final audio for the video, and An Anthem for East Lothian is available on the ELC Instrumental Music Service’s YouTube Channel ( click here to watch this digital performance )

Photo by Andrew Moncrieff

Let’s Make An Opera – a creative programme for primary schools 

Let’s Make An Opera is a creative, interactive schools’ workshop programme delivered in collaboration with the East Lothian Council Youth Music Initiative between May 2022 and March 2023 to over 200 children from two rural schools near Dunbar and four urban schools in Haddington. In a series of interactive and creative ‘mini-opera’ workshops using thematic material and musical resources from Catriona and the Dragon, our McOpera workshop team asked the children to imagine their future – what would it hold if we didn’t look after our planet, and what might we achieve together if we did! Using freeze frames to develop a narrative storyline, creating ‘travelling music’ to lead from one scene to another with both the pupils’ own instruments and body percussion, each school devised their own ‘future’ song.

Photos by Julie Broadfoot

And in the letters the children wrote and in the songs they composed, they asked

I hope in a hundred years, that the animals are still here,
I hope you see the world as it should be…
As it could be…
As it should be…

Innerwick Primary School (Let’s Make An Opera 2023) 

Photos by Julie Broadfoot

Creative Team
Moira Morrison - Vocal Animateur/Composer
Laura Attridge – Director/ Librettist
Jenny Hill – Musician, Workshop Leader
Jennifer Ross (Clarinet) - Supporting musician
Sarah Lake (Piano) - Supporting musician

Participating Primary Schools
Haddington Primary School
Innerwick Primary School
Letham Mains Primary School
St Mary’s RC Primary School
West Barnes Primary School
Yester Primary School

The pupils said:

I learned that it's not scary playing in front of a crowd.
I liked like the music thing, you got to chat with music.
I liked how it was about where we live and how it's about us.  

The teachers told us:

The children in my class thoroughly enjoyed participating with the entire project! (Teacher)
The P5 musicians were delighted to get the opportunity to play together as part of an orchestra - this was something they had never done before (Teacher)
Please come back again – we don’t have anyone on our staff with musical expertise and this is an opportunity we have really benefitted from and would love to have back again to help us grow (Teacher) 

Our musicians said:

This is vital work for a creative response to climate change - powerful ‘beyond music’, and the timing for these messages is vital.
One of the most positive outcomes was the opportunity for instrumentalists early in their journey to make music as part of a group, for performance with their peers.  

The Hope for the Future Songs

Letham Mains Primary School (June 2022), words by Laura Attridge and Letham Mains Primary School Audio: I Wish, I Hope by Letham Mains Primary School

I WISH, I HOPE

I wish for clearer skies,
I hope we can see the stars
I wish, I hope
I wish for flowing water,
I hope there are lots of fish
I wish, I hope
I wish for growing forests,
I hope we care for nature
I wish, I hope
I wish for no more wars,
I hope [that] the Earth is peaceful, I wish, I hope 

St Mary’s RC Primary School, words by Laura Attridge and St Mary’s RC Primary School Audio: Rainbows by St Mary's RC Primary School

RAINBOWS

I hope the earth will still have trees
I hope the breeze is calm and clear
I hope the clouds still float above
And I hope it still rains in Scotland

I hope the air we breathe is clean
I hope the sea is still full of fish
I hope the plants grow strong and green
And I hope it still rains in Scotland

I hope that people protect the earth
I hope we all can do our part
I hope for rainbows up in the sky
So I hope it still rains in Scotland 

Yester Primary School, words by Laura Attridge and Yester Primary School (2022) Audio: Dear Future by Yester Primary School

DEAR FUTURE

I hope the sky is bright and blue;
I hope the air smells sweet.
I hope the trees are tall and green;
I hope the grass grows under your feet.

I hope your water is clean and fresh;
I hope that fish swim in the sea.
I hope that people are still kind;
I hope you love the world as much as me. 

Letham Mains Primary School (March 2023), words by Moira Morrison and Letham Mains Primary School Video: Dear Leaders by Letham Mains Primary School

LISTEN TO CHILDREN

Dear Leaders,
Please listen to children,
We want you all to know:
With wildfires, earthquakes, and human mistakes,
There are so many problems in this world of woe!

We need to stop pollution, there are many solutions:
Work together, ban plastics for ever,
Build more electric cars, solar and wind farms.
When we open the door, we want to see…
A world that’s not all about… money.

Dear Leaders,
Please listen to children,
We’re struggling, can’t you see?
The way things are is such a disgrace.
The world could be such a happy place!

Please take action - save the bees,
Care for people, clean our seas.
Please be more fair, plant more trees;
We need the trees… to breathe.
We know the world… could be… better!

Better, Better, Better, Better.

West Barns Primary School, words by Moira Morrison and West Barns Primary School 

TELL ME THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

Tell me that the plants and the trees are all thriving,
Tell me people cycle instead of all driving,
Tell me the world has changed,
Tell me the world has changed.

Tell me there’s still plenty of green open space,
Tell me that the world has become a safe place,
Tell me the world has changed,
Tell me the world has changed.

Tell me elephants, tigers and chimps are still there,
Tell me, there is less CO2 in the air,
Tell me the world has changed,
Tell me the world has changed.

Tell me you’ve seen snow, it’s a wonderful thing
That red squirrels in Scotland have not gone extinct.
Tell me you can still see the stars at night,
That the air is still clear, and the sun is still bright___


Tell me the world has changed,
Tell me the world has changed.
Tell me the world has changed,
Tell me the world has changed.

Innerwick Primary School, words by Moira Morrison and Innerwick Primary School Video: The World As It Should Be by Innerwick Primary School

THE WORLD AS IT SHOULD BE

Please promise to keep our seas clean,
Please promise to try.
Please promise to keep our earth green,
Please promise to be kind.

I hope in a hundred years, that the air here is still clear,
I hope you see the world as it should be.

Please promise to protect all creatures,
Please promise to find a way.
Please promise to protect all people,
Please promise to be brave.

I hope in a hundred years, that the animals are still here,
I hope you see the world as it should be…
As it could be…
As it should be…