SKU: HL.14015279

ISBN 9780711995796.

This new Opera was first performed in 1998 in Huddersfield by Opera North. Designed for the modern stage, it utilises only a small cast and orchestra - albeit one with a good variety of percussion! The libretto is adapted by the composer from the play 'The Love of Don Pemperlin for Belisa in the Garden' by Feredico Garcia Lorca, translated into English by David Johnston. The plot revolves around the ill-fated marriage of Don Pemperlin, an ageing bachelor and his beautiful neighbour Belisa, which was suggested by Pemperlin's maid. Tricks and misunderstandings abound and because of them, Pemperlin ends by stabbing himself and dying even as Belisa proclaims her love for him.

SKU: CF.CY1848F

ISBN 9781491144404. UPC: 680160901906.

With some trepidation, Talma wrote her own libretto for the 1976 chamber opera Have You Heard? Do You Know?, a work about the Cold War and the desire for utopias (when the bomb drops, where would you run to?). For Talma, who lived a great part of her life in the hustle-bustle of Manhattan, this opera may have been reflective of her joy in spending time at the peaceful woods of the MacDowell Colony. While she referred to the opera as amusing, it may well have been autobiographical to a large extent.

SKU: HL.14014797

ISBN 9781844496389. 9.5x13.75x9.74 inches.

The fifteenth full Opera from the prolific Hans Werner Henze, and the first to feature a self-penned libretto. After the poems he wrote for his Songs from the Arabian, Henze has produced this unusal tale through adapting both Arab and Persian legends and invoking the same half-real, half-imaginary Arabia as the song cycle. The story itself is a fairy tale comedy with much in common with The Magic Flute. The orchestral arrangement is huge, featuring quadruple wind, five percussionists and a part for tape.