Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges

New Zealand School of Music Classical Performance students present four performances Ravel's engagingly magical opera L'enfant et les sortilèges at the Hannah Playhouse directed by Sara Brodie, conducted by Martin Riseley with the New Zealand School of Music orchestra.

Performed in French with surtitles, the show is suitable for all ages. The story involves a 'child' (L'enfant) whose awful behaviour brings an unexpected response: first the furniture rebels, the grandfather clock, the broken china cup, then the mathematics tutor and the Princess in the fairy tale book come to life, and eventually all the animals in the garden - squirrels, dragonfly, birds rise up - all of whom have good reason to 'teach the child a lesson'. It's a fabulous journey that we go on with the child who is confronted by all of these and indeed learns...

This is a project involving the whole of the Classical Performance programme: the voice students sing all the roles, each performing several roles, the NZSM orchestra will play for the performances, and the piano students are taking part as rehearsal pianists (répétiteurs) and playing in the orchestra.

Lighting design by Alex Fisher, set and costumes by Grace O’Brien, assistant director Theresa Hanaray, chorus master Kathryn Mosley. This production has been coordinated by NZSM Head of Classical Voice Jenny Wollerman in collaboration with the Toi Whakaari technical programme staff, graduates, and students.

7:30pm Friday 5 September

3pm Saturday 6 September

7:30pm Saturday 6 September

3pm Sunday 7 September

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